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GARDENS OF GREEN 
george Mcpherson hunter 



GARDENS OF 
GREEN 



BY THE REV. 

george Mcpherson hunter 

AUTHOR OF "MORNING FACES," ^ETC. 




NEW XBlr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



Ml. 



COPYRIGHT, 1922, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



^ 



?' 



GARDENS OF GREEN. I 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



AUG -3 '22 

.A681222 

fa* j 



o> 



TO 

BETTY 

AND 

HER MOTHER 

"and the streets of the city shall 
be full of boys and girls play- 
ing in the streets there of." 



CONTENTS 



January 
I 
II 

III 
IV 

February 
V 

VI 

VII 
VIII 

March 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

April 

XIII 

XIV 



God's First Emigrant .... 13 

Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar 
{Twelfth Night or the Epiph- 
any) x 7 

The First Twins 21 

Snowy Days and Snowy Ways . 25 

The Wooden Cross .... 27 

"Little Boy Blue, Be Clean 

Through and Through" . . 30 

David's Buddie 33 

An Adjusted Conscience ... 37 

Jesus Looked 41 

The Land of Lovely Savings . . 44 

Eagles and Sparrows .... 46 

Let Us Laugh! 50 

Sing a Song of Spring .... 53 

The Wonderful Tomb {Easter 

Sunday) 57 

vii 



V1U 



Contents 



XV 
XVI 



May 



XVII 
XVIII 

XIX 
XX 



June 

XXI 

XXII 

XXIII 

XXIV 

XXV 

July 

XXVI 

XXVII 

XXVIII 

XXIX 

August 
XXX 

XXXI 
XXXII 



The Royalty of Giving . . 
Escapes by a Hairbreadth 

It's May Day, Hurrah! . . 

"The Pink and the White" 
{Mother's Day) . . . 

The Fruits of Whitsunday 

What Do You Think? . . 

The Blushing Flower . 

Blossom Time, It's Blossom Time 
{Children's Day) 

The Tale of the Chrysoprase 

Prince of the White Rose . 

Living With the Adverbs 



Epaphroditus 

The Garden That Was Lost 
The Garden That Was Found 
Brothers All 



PAGB 
DO 

63 



67 
70 

73 

77 

81 

85 
89 

93 

96 

99 
102 

105 
108 



What Are the Wild Waves Say- 
ing? 110 

Enoch the Pioneer . . . . 113 

"Who Is High and Near?" . . 117 



XXXIII 
XXXIV 

September 

XXXV 

XXXVI 

XXXVII 
XXXVIII 

October 

XXXIX 

XL 

XLI 

XLII 

November 
XLIII 
XLIV 

XLV 
XLVI 

December 
XLVII 

XLVIII 

XLIX 

L 



Contents ix 

PAGE 

Guarding the Treasure . . . 119 

Clean Teeth 122 

Wake Up! Rally! (Rally Day) . 125 

Joshua the Scoutmaster of 

Israel 130 

The King and the Covenant . 133 

Why Does God Live? .... 136 

A Garden of Nuts ..... 141 

The Ribband of Blue .... 144 

Remember Now! 147 

The Man Who Found a Kingdom 149 

Seven Story and Basement . . 153 

Three Cheers! Hip! Hip! Hip 

Hurrah! 157 

Buying a Miracle 160 

Who Are the Blind? .... 163 

The Piper Prince from the 

North 166 

Jesus Child 169 

Ye Olden Carols (Christmas Day) 172 

What Time Is It? 176 



GARDENS OF GREEN 



God's First Emigrant 

^\OWN at the Narrows in New York, you can 
"*^^ stand on the Staten Island hills and watch the 
tides race out and in. They are called the Atlantic 
tides, the flood and the ebb of the ocean. But, if 
you look at the ships ; they are bringing in another, 
the human tide. That flood of emigrants began 
to come in shortly after the Pilgrim Fathers landed, 
and it has never stopped flowing over and across the 
continent. 

The United States of America has been the hope 
of the hopeless, the goal and the refuge of the poor, 

the industrious and the ambitious. So much of an 
open door has it been that good people are beginning 
to pucker their brows and look serious over the 
"emigrant problem/' 

Any day in the week you can see crowds of men, 
women and children from Southern Europe with 
strange clothes, thick-soled boots and weighted down 
with bundles on their backs. Little frightened chil- 
dren trot alongside of weary mothers who are carry- 
ing big babies in their arms. They have left their 

13 



14 Gardens of Green 

old native lands to get better wages and better living 
conditions in this big new land of ours. 

But did you ever hear about the first emigrant ? 

The beginning of the New Year is a good tirr^e 
to remember Abraham, God's friend, the first of a 
long line of emigrants who followed the sandy trails 
north and northwest. By God's command Abra- 
ham left everything, comfort, friends and home; 
everything our emigrants come to seek he left 
behind. 

God gave him marching orders : "Get up and go 
into a strange country. 

"Look up, Abraham! Can you count the stars?" 

He shook his head. 

At night he had lain out in the hills, surrounded 
by his sheep, and gazed at the diamond jewels set 
in the purple darkness. Abraham had wondered how 
many there were. 

". . . as star follows star 
Into the eve and the blue far above us, — so 
blue and so far !" 

God whispered in his ear: "I will make your 
children numberless as the stars." 

What a promise ! 

At God's command and with only a promise 
Abraham went out to follow the emigrant's trail, 
northwest, seeking a new country. 



God's First Emigrant 15 

Columbus, when he went voyaging over the At- 
lantic ocean in his search for a new land, wrote in 
his diary: "To-day we sailed on." Abraham, if 
he could write, would just be able to say: "To-day 
we walked on." This was all he could do, all God 
asked him to do, simply to walk northwest with 
Him. 

Abraham was the first emigrant and the first mis- 
sionary of God, the pioneer of the long line of mes- 
sengers charged with God's errands who have gone 
out from their own kindred to settle in foreign coun- 
tries. 

The Pilgrim Fathers were only a band of emi- 
grants from Europe to America. God wanted a 
new race for the new world and he picked the Puri- 
tan Pilgrims and led them out as he did Abraham. 
Carey to India, Morrison to China, Moffat and 
Livingstone to Africa, Chalmers to New Guinea 
were God's emigrants led out to found new nations 
to be added to the Kingdoms of Christ's love. 

Abraham was God's friend because he had faith. 
Emigrants, explorers, missionaries and pioneers 
have all been men of great faith. 

I saw John S. Paton once in New York. He was 
God's emigrant to the New Hebrides, a tall, thin 
white old man with a long beard. When he went 
out to the South Sea Islands he was baffled for a 
long time because the natives had no word for 



16 Gardens of Green 

"faith" or "believe." How could he make them 
understand what faith meant? 

Well! one day when busy on Bible translation a 
tired native came into his study, sat down, put his 
feet on another chair and said, "How good it was 
to lean his whole weight on" the chairs. 

Dr. Paton jumped up and asked the man to re- 
peat the words. He listened eagerly. He had gained 
at last the word for "believe" and he used it always 
in his translations. 

Listen to the beauty of the expression : 

" Tor God so loved the world that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever leans his whole 
weight on him should not perish, but have eternal 
life/ 'What must I do to be saved ? Lean thy whole 
weight on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved.' : 

That is what Abraham did when he followed God. 
He leaned his whole weight on God and so the first 
emigrant became the father of all who have faith. 



II 

Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar 

Twelfth Night or The Epiphany 

"1X7" HEN Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days 
" of Herod the King, three wise men from the 
East came to Jerusalem asking, "Where is He that 
is born King of the Jews for we have seen His star 
in the East, and are come to worship Him?" 

When the wisdom men saw Jesus they offered 
rich gifts. Gold to signify that He was King, 
frankincense to show that He was God, and myrrh 
as a reminder that He was man and would some 
day die. 

In return for these beautiful gifts, our Lord and 
Master has other gifts. Charity and spiritual riches 
for the gold, faith in God for the incense, and truth 
and meekness for myrrh. 

So notable was the event that the church insti- 
tuted a feast called the Epiphany to keep in remem- 
brance the appearing of the three wise men. After 
the Easter and Christmas it is the chief festival 

in the Greek, Roman, Episcopal and many of the 

17 



18 Gardens of Green 

Reformed churches. In Holland, Spain, Belgium, 
and England the children have holidays at the 
Epiphany season and some old quaint customs are 
kept alive. 

French children have a grand time when Epiphany 
comes. It's the time of the "King's cake." When 
a large cake is baked and the youngest child is lord 
of the cake, the giver of a piece to each member of 
the family. 

Epiphany is the night of the star. When Christ 
our Saviour, who was the Bright and morning star, 
first appeared in a lowly stable in Bethlehem. 

Away behind the hills three wise old men saw a 
star rise up in the heavens. I forgot to tell you the 
names of these men, Gaspard, Melchior and Bal- 
thasar. But some verses describe what they did. 

"One camel, two camels, three camels come — 
The Star at the head and the moon at the tail — 
Three big humps and three great Kings, 
All silver and gold in the blue of the night. 

"To the dancing tune of the crystalline bells, 
Gaspar's beard in the wind, Melchior's arms like a cross, 
They trot swiftly down from the top of the hill 
Where Balthazar's straining his eyes to the Star. 

"At Thy feet we lay our scepters down, 
Our crowns in Thy arms and our hearts in Thy hands, 
And we bring to Thee myrrh and the fine, fine gold 
And sweet odors or frankincense." 

The gospel of the Babe was for all the world and 
these three old men were representatives of the ends 



Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar 19 

of the earth. They were also a picture of a day we 
cannot see. But it is coming when the cross of Cal- 
vary and the cradle of Bethlehem will rule the world. 
The Epiphany promises a new way, the rule of love 
in the world. 

It is only about a hundred years since a soldier, 
who nearly conquered the world, Napoleon Bona- 
parte, said, "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I 
founded an empire upon force. Jesus alone founded 
His empire upon love and to this day millions would 
die for Him." 

Another King, the Emperor of Germany, said, 
"My throne rests on the bayonets of my army." 
Poor, foolish man ! 

How blind he was not to see the empire of love 
which Christ is making in the world. Jesus founds 
His Kingdom on the hearts of men. His is the 
rule of the loving heart. Jesus does His mighty 
works by gifts. He asks hearts and gives in return 
blessing, the "blessings of God that maketh rich." 
It is because Christ of Bethlehem humbled Himself 
to give even His life. That other men might give 
their all. 

In the great war men went over the seas, fought, 
bled and died for the babes of Belgium, the honor 
of France and the freedom of the world. In star- 
fire and salt tears Jesus was seen again, a world's 



20 Gardens of Green 

Epiphany. And many thousands have seen Jesus 
in another form. 

It was in a hospital ward that Mary Adair Mac- 
donald had a vision of the new appearing: 

"( Frankincense, myrrh, and gold; 
Winds His choristers, worlds about His knee . . . 
Hath He room at all in His awful Treasury 
For the gifts our Kings unfold 
That can ne'er be told?) 

"This is the night of a Star. 
This is the long road's ending. 
They are sleeping now ; they have brought their warrior 

best 
To the Lord their God Who made them; 
-And lo ! He hath repaid them 
With rest.— 

"This is the night of a Star. 

The laugh that rings through torment, the ready jest 
Valor and youth, lost hope, and a myriad dreams 
Splendidly given — 

He hath taken up to the inmost heart of Heaven 
And now — while the night grows cold, and the ward- 
fire gleams 
You may guess the tender smile as He walketh hidden 
In the place where His Wise Ones are." 



Ill 

The First Twins 

TTOW would you like to be twins ?" 
A A Nobody answers. 

Well, in the days when the world was at school 
in the first grade, Isaac, son of an emigrant, was 
blessed with twin boys. He named them Esau and 
Jacob. God made them opposites in character. They 
had their own peculiar dispositions. 

Esau was an outdoor fellow, always climbing 
trees, fishing, hunting, and trapping. He had an 
old dog, likely a first-class ratter, and in his pockets 
he carried bait, crusts of bread, fish hooks and a 
rabbit's foot for luck. Rainy days he spent in the 
stables ; Esau was a smelly fellow, good natured and 
likable, too. I nearly forgot to mention his appetite. 
His stomach was his first care in life. At dinner 
he rarely forgot to ask: "Is there any seconds on 
this?" and "What's for dessert ?" 

Jacob, his brother, stayed at home, dressed well, 

brushed his hair and looked nice. He spoke 

smoothly and gathered up old iron and newspapers 

to sell to the junk man, traded alleys and knives. He 

21 



22 Gardens of Green 

stayed away from fairs and festivals, usually, but 
when he did go he walked around, looked at every- 
thing, took in the free shows and never spent a cent. 

Uncle Ike, the pawnbroker, says : "If I had a 
boy like Jacob, I would start another store and make 
money, too." 

Somebody foolishly told Jacob he had arrived in 
the world five minutes after Esau. From that day 
on the color of his eyes began to change from good, 
clear black into green. If you are jealous inside and 
say nothing AND think it's all right, that nobody 
knows how you feel, remember your eyes are chang- 
ing their color; they become green and soon every- 
body will know you are jealous. 

By beating his brother, five minutes, in the race 
into the world, Esau got the birthright; that is he 
was the Prince of Wales in Palestine, he would 
inherit two titles and acres upon acres of land. Esau 
really did not care very much who was to get all 
the father's property. Being out in the fields, fol- 
lowing game, watching the trail, money and prop- 
erty matters were forgotten. He was big, strong 
and healthy with an enormous appetite. 

Jacob at home was scheming and dreaming and 
saving his money. The idea that the birthright 
would go to his brother stayed with him night and 
day. 

No one told Esau to stay home and mind the 



The First Twins 23 

farm and the sheep. His old father liked the game 
he brought home. No one told Jacob to go out 
and hunt; it would have been a cure for the evil 
working in his heart. His old mother encouraged 
him in gathering money. 

One day Jacob got a chance to drive a bargain 
with his brother. Esau had been out on a long hunt- 
ing trip. He arrived home without game, empty 
handed, hungry, wearied and out of sorts. Jacob 
was sitting down to a "mess of pottage," bean soup. 
He should have risen and said : "Here, Esau, take 
half of my lunch. " 

But he saw a chance to drive a bargain with his 
twin brother. Esau was hungry and wanted food; 
Jacob had food and he wanted Esau's birthright. 
Both were living for themselves, Esau for what 
he could eat, the pleasure of the moment, Jacob for 
what he could get, the riches and bargains of life. 
Esau smelled the beans and he forgot everything 
in life but his appetite. He despised the birthright 
and yielded to his desire for food. Jacob, his own 
brother, tempted Esau, and bought the birthright. 
Esau was as bad as Jacob; he had never learned 
to put his appetite in its right place. If he had looked 
into his brother's eyes he would have noticed their 
changed color. 

Esau liked things to eat: Jacob loved to hoard 
things. The keenness for money of the one brother 



24 Gardens of Green 

in no way excuses the greed of the other for food. 
It's too bad! But the first twins just thought about 
themselves. They were selfish. "Me first" was 
their constant cry. 

Twin boys and girls and those who are not twins 
should learn self-control. How was it Tennyson, 
the poet, put the idea of self-government? 

"Self-reverence, self-knowledge and self-control — 
These three alone lead life to sovereign power." 

God's word says something better. We are to 
be God controlled. 

"Every man that striveth in the games, exercises 
self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive 
a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." 



IV 

Snowy Days and Snowy Ways 

QNOW is one of the wonders of God's power. 
^ It lies over the earth like a white woolen blanket, 
covering and beautifying it. 

Job in the olden days said: "Great things doeth 
He which we cannot comprehend. For He saith 
to the snow, 'Be thou upon the earth.' " 

We see God's power in the snow; His strength 
and protection in sending it to shield the roots and 
fragile plants from the winter's frost. Then we 
see God's handiwork in the snow. He fashioned the 
delicate flakes that cover all the rough places in 
the fields, broken tree trunks, sheds, torn fences, 
rocks and the bleak ugliness of the world. All the 
litter of things left around by men's laziness He 
covers with powdery white snow. 

Snow is the symbol of purity. "The pure in heart 
shall see God" and the sight of God reveals our sins. 
What can make us clean and white? 

A negro stripped himself of his clothes one day 

and began rubbing his body with snow. He was 

asked: "Why do you rub yourself with snow?" 

25 



26 Gardens of Green 

He answered : "Perhaps I shall become white." 
"Don't fatigue yourself," a wise man advised, "your 
body may well make the snow black but it will never 
make you white." 

The color of our skin, whether it is black, yel- 
low, red or white has no effect on our hearts. God 
looks on the inner parts to see if our hearts are white. 
And lo! There are none of us pure and clean in 
His eyes. We are all wrong-doers, every one. Our 
thoughts are rebellious, our ways are crooked, our 
spirits are haughty, our lives are stained with sin 
and we want to be clean. Do we not? "He that 
hath clean hands will wax stronger and stronger." 

God has given us a gracious promise about our 
sins; a rich, full free promise for all the world. 
By the power of His word He can give us dean 
hands and clean hearts, that make singing lips, merry 
ways and useful lives. 

"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool." 



The Wooden Cross 

FN Scotland, a land that was poor and cold for 
many years; it is still cold and rainy there but 
no longer a poor country. In the days of hard toil 
and poverty the peasants would never burn the elder 
tree, even when fuel was scarce and the elder 
branches plentiful. Its name in the Scottish tongue 
was bourtree and the reason why it was not burned 
you can gather from the rime. 

"Bourtree, bourtree, crooked rung 
Never straight and never strong, 
Ever bush and never tree 
Since our Lord was nailed on thee." 

The ancient Scots believed that long, long ago, 
when all the world was wrong and only One was 
right, our Lord was crucified on the bourtree. 

The story of the cross is the tale of our religion, 
the sign of our faith. Priests wear crosses on their 
robes, women have golden crosses on their necks. 
The cross is graven on the vessels used at Holy 
Communion, embroidered on altar cloths, carved 
on tombs and monuments and put on the steeples 

27 



28 Gardens of Green 

of churches and over the doorways. Some of the 
greatest cathedrals and churches of the world are 
fashioned in the form of a cross. In every land, in 
every clime, you can see the sign of the cross. 

As you know it was the symbol of shame and 
disgrace until our Lord was nailed to the tree on 
Calvary; then its meaning was changed. All the 
common things that He touches are instantly turned 
into glorious symbols of victory. So it was with 
the cross. The cruel instrument whereon our 
Saviour was nailed became the honor we were to 
seek. Christ's Cross makes us His own. He wins 
us to Himself by it. 

"Captain Guynemer, the French airman who 
finally laid down his life, had, for his gallantry and 
fearless bravery, gained the French Military Medal, 
the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and the Croix de 
Guerre. Guynemer was once being congratulated 
by some ladies on his latest exploit. 'That was 
splendid!' s,aid one of them. 'You have now won 
the Legion of Honor, the Military Medal, the War 
Cross. What other decoration can you yet win?' 
'The wooden cross,' replied Guynemer quietly." 

We need not cross the seas, enlist as soldiers or 
move from our seats, but where we are, we can take 
up the wooden cross of Jesus. Having taken up 
the cross, what are we to do then ? The Bible says : 



The Wooden Cross 29 

"If any man would come after me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross and follow me." 

What happens? You will find it is hollow in the 
inside and filled with beautiful flowers and as you 
march, shouldering your cross after Jesus, the 
flowers will begin to fall in showers behind you. 
The deserts of life will blossom with roses. Lilies 
will spring up and the brier will bud. 

"And from the ground there blossoms red 
Life that shall endless be." 



VI 

"Little Boy Blue, Be Clean Through and 
Through" 

"DE clean!" cries the ocean as it laves the beach. 
"Be clean !" says the brook as it gurgles through 
the meadows. "Be clean!" hisses the cloud as it 
bursts over the road. "Be clean!" chirps the spar- 
row as it dips in the well. "Be clean !" roars the gale 
as it scours the mountain tops. "Be clean!" sighs 
the rose as it scents the June air. "Be clean !" whis- 
pers the angels in the ears of the boys and girls. 

"Be clean," says the Bible, "in heart, hands, eyes, 
teeth and skin." "Be clean inside and outside!" 
commands the Gospel. "Be clean ye that bear the 
vessels of the Lord," cries the prophet. 

The wisdom writer asks: "Who can say I have 
made my heart clean?" 

Patient Job breaks into speech : "Who can bring 
a clean thing out of an unclean?" 

Many have tried but all have failed ! 

"A little colored boy once watched his old 

mammy's success in bleaching clothes, so he covered 

his face with soapsuds and lay down on the lawn 

30 



"Little Boy Blue, Be Clean" 31 

in the hot sun with the hope of turning white. Two 
hours later his mother saw him and said, 'Lan's sake, 
chile! Don't you know ye can't make white folks 
of yerse'f by bleaching from the outside?' she 
asked." 

We are made white and clean from the inside. 

Who may ascend and who may stand on the glori- 
fied hilltop where the ark and the glory of God rest ? 
None ! Save the clean handed and the pure hearted. 

There are many beautiful homes in the world, 
grand people and customs. All of them pass, pass 
and are passing. But "the fear of the Lord is 
clean," standing forever. 

An old Indian chief with years on his hair, a 
blanket on his shoulder and a sob in his voice came 
to the house of God. His face was sad and his eyes 
downcast. "My heart is bad, my heart is dirty. 
What can your God say to me?" 

"He said the words long ago," answered the lady 
with the sunshine in her eyes and the music of the 
brook in her voice and the word of life in her hands. 
"When a man prayed : 'create in me a clean heart/ 
Jesus answered, T will. Be thou clean !' " 

"Who can make me clean all through?" 

"Jesus who said, T will. Be thou clean.' " 

"Little Boy Blue, your child-heart knows; 
Sound but a note as a little one may, 
And the thorns of the desert shall bloom with the rose, 
And the Healer shall wipe all tears away. 



32 Gardens of Green 

"Little Boy Blue, many thing's are astray, 

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn; 
Come set the world right as a little one may; 
Little Boy Blue, come blow on your horn." 

Be clean through and through. 



VII 

David's Buddie 

/^\NE night during the war a soldier stopped me 
^^ at my door and said, "Give me a match, 
mister." 

"Come in," I said. "If there's one in the house 
you'll get it." 

"Thanks," he answered, "I'm waiting for my 
'buddie.' " 

A soldier's particular chum is called his "buddie." 
David, the king of Israel, was a military man and 
he had a king's son for a buddie. 

Older perhaps than the king, certainly better edu- 
cated, more refined in his manners, Jonathan was 
bred in the soft ways of a king's court all the days 
of his life; waited on by servants, used to ease and 
luxury. Look at,! the difference ! David, shepherd, 
huntsman, country bred and friend of country men, 
had a king's son for a buddie. In this wonderful 
friendship there was love. David loved Jonathan 
and the king's son returned the affection of the shep- 
herd. And united to love was a deep religious faith. 

Religion is like mortar, it holds together in times of 

33 



34 Gardens of Green 

cold and heat, riches and poverty, those who love 
one another. Whatever the differences of social ac- 
cident and training were, mutual affection and re- 
ligion made the lowly born shepherd and the highly 
seated king's son deep friends — buddies. 

Well! Boys and girls, we are all likely to have 
buddies in our lifetime. I trust you may be richly 
blessed in them, and I propose to you a few rules. 

First, stick to your buddie. Jonathan clung to 
his in face of his father's hatred. Saul, his father, 
was a strange, dark, gloomy man jealous of David. 
Jonathan knew that some day his father would lose 
his throne and David would get the royal place, 
but like a loyal son Jonathan joined his fortunes 
with those of his father and kept on loving David. 
Even if his king father hated his buddie Jonathan 
helped his buddie, David. 

On the eve of the feast of the new moon Saul 
invited the chiefs of his kingdom to a banquet. The 
buddies knew a time had come when they would 
find out Saul's real feeling for David. So between 
them they made a plot. The shepherd was to go 
home and visit his father at Bethlehem and Jonathan 
was to stay in court and watch Saul. At the end 
of three days David was to appear. Notice what 
happened ! 

On the first day of the feast Saul opened his big 
dark eyes and looked around the room. But he 



David's Buddie 35 

said nothing. On the second day his eyes wandered 
over the rocm again. He scowled, and said sharply 
to Jonathan, "Where's David?" 

"He had my permission, O King, to visit his 
father." 

With a snarl of mad rage, the king threw his 
javelin at his own son. But missed him. Like a 
wise man, Jonathan left the room at once. 

He was deeply in love with his buddie. Lovers 
are all inventors so Jonathan invented a telegraph. 
Taking his bow and arrow he went out into the 
grounds of the palace and shot an arrow through 
the air. As his attendant ran to pick up the arrows 
Jonathan sent another beyond him and cried, "The 
arrows are beyond thee." 

David knew the deep meaning of the innocent 
words and he arose and fell on his friend's neck and 
kissed him. Together the buddies wept. Jonathan 
had saved David's life at the risk of his own by the 
telegraph of bows and arrows. Oh, the inventions 
of love! 

David became an outlaw. He left all the ties 

of home and friendship behind, exiled from his 

buddie. 

"It's ill to loose the bands 
That God decreed to bind." 

He lived in the hills, dodging into caves when he 
heard voices floating up from the valleys. Hiding 



36 Gardens of Green 

in the bushes, fleeing over rocks like a hunted deer, 
yet keeping his love warm for Jonathan, his royal 
buddie, to the ends of his days. 

In David's love and fidelity we see our friend 
Jesus. He does for us all that Jonathan did for 
David. He invents ways to save us from ourselves. 
"He sticketh closer than a brother." His help, pity, 
and power is at our command. 

"Help of the helpless, 
O, abide with me." 



VIII 
An Adjusted Conscience 

TXT" HEN I was a boy my brother in India sent 

* me a Christmas box. It was ebony, polished 
and shiny black. I opened it and there was another 
box inside. I opened that one and found still an- 
other. There were boxes in the inside of boxes 
until I came to one so small that it would not hold 
another. 

Boys I have found to be like my present, just boys 
in the inside of boys. Tear off the wrapping from 
a rough, freckled faced boy and you find a gentle 
boy. Tear off another covering and you find a 
pirate boy, off comes another layer and you discover 
a poet boy, and so on until you reach the real boy. 
One lad is after all many boys, with the real fellow 
hidden away inside so far that only his mother — and 
sometimes his father — and God — ever sees him. 

"Do you see that boy on the back bench ?" a 
teacher asked me. 

"The one with the elbows out of his coat and the 

face of a Raphael angel," I replied. 

"He's no angel, but he's white inside," the teacher 

37 



38 Gardens of Green 

assured me. "He has a good conscience, he is clean 
and true," continued the teacher, as he showed me 
to the door. 

God made us with a conscience. It is part of our 
inside furnishings as real as our stomach, hearts or 
livers. A boy's conscience is like a ship's compass. 
It requires adjusting. Before a vessel starts on a 
voyage, the ship owners take her to some quiet place 
and the adjusters find out the errors and correct 
them. Then only is the compass fit to steer by. No 
sea captain would take a vessel out of the harbor 
until he knew his compasses were correctly adjusted. 

Why should a boy start to sail the voyage of life 
until his inward compass, conscience, is adjusted? 
This "tuning up" of our inner life is a patriotic 
duty, and a great protection. Oh, the wickedness 
that has been wrought in the world by men who 
have not had their consciences adjusted by God's 
standards of right and wrong! 

Women were burned in Salem, drowned in Scot- 
land. Men put on the rack in Spain, held in bond- 
age and sold by their fellow men, who were per- 
fectly conscientious about their cruelty. 

But how are we to get a good conscience void of 
offense towards God and man, one that will work 
as God wishes it should work? Now be very still 
while I explain the mystery of a good conscience. 

One Monday afternoon I saw a sun dial on a vil- 



An Adjusted Conscience 39 

lage lawn. The sun was shining brightly on the 
green grass, and the dial registered half past three 
o'clock. So did my watch. But if there had been 
no sun, only darkness, and I had flashed my electric 
torch on the dial would I have got the correct time ? 

"Oh, no." 

I would have got any time I wanted by placing 
the light at any angle. The right time would have 
appeared the wrong time, and the wrong time the 
right time. A good conscience like a sun dial needs 
God's light. The illumination of God's Holy Spirit 
makes our conscience work correctly. 

The Father in heaven has given us two lights; 
the inner light of His Holy Spirit, and the outward 
light of His Holy word. 

"If the light that is in you be dark, how great is 
the darkness." 

Who wants to walk in darkness ? Well ! we might 
if we refuse God's spirit, and our conscience re- 
mains unadjusted. 

How are we to get our inward guides made true, 
and where do we go to have them adjusted? Ship- 
owners and shipmasters know the places to go with 
their untried compasses. 

In the land of the North, where the hills watched 
over my home, we had a quiet Loch where com- 
manders brought their ships. There was stillness. 
No rushing tides, or heaving waves to disturb the 



40 Gardens of Green 

calm, no metals in the mountains to deflect the 
needles of the compass. In perfect quietness the 
newly placed instruments were adjusted. Men dis- 
covered that still Loch. 

God created a place where the conscience of all 
his people should be adjusted, the church of God. 
The quiet haven of rest, away from the noise of 
work, the attractions of the busy world. Every- 
thing that deflects the conscience is shut out. 

Sunday is the day when our consciences are put 
right, corrected, and adjusted for the week. All 
that a preacher or a Sunday School teacher can do 
is to bring folks into the light, point to the light, or 
hold up the lamp that shines on conscience. 

Such is the "mystery of the faith, in a pure con- 
science. ,, 



IX 

Jesus Looked 

\XT E are all interested in the face of Jesus. Men 
have tried to paint His face. How did He 
speak, and how did He walk? Have we not often 
wondered about the looks of Jesus? He had, I am 
sure, 

"A sweet, attractive kind of grace 
The full assurance given by looks; 
Perpetual comfort in a face, 
The lineaments of Gospel books." 

But His eyes, they saw all the precious and the piti- 
ful things in the world. 

He had the rare gift of vision. Eyes that saw 
into the heart of things. 

On the poor woman in distress Jesus looked with 
pity. His eyes were wet, yet with power He looked 
through the salt tears. 

His eyes went everywhere, up to His Father in 
prayer, down to the dust in sorrow, flashing out 
with anger at irreverence and injustice. 

He looked tenderly on the fallen, lovingly on the 

weak, kindly on the wayward, carefully on the poor, 

41 



42 Gardens of Green 

calmly on His enemies, patiently on His disciples, 
generously on the Samaritans, and with great search- 
ing love on Peter who denied Him. 

Oh, those eyes of Jesus ! 

Long years after when He rose into heaven, the 
Apostles of the Master remembered His looks. And 
John, when stricken in fear alone in the Island of 
Patmos, says, "I saw the Lord." 

He had seen Him in Galilee, on the hillside, trans- 
figured, in the garden betrayed, on the cross cruci- 
fied, and in the garden at Easter, resurrected. 

He recognized Him walking amid the golden 
candlesticks. Here is the lesson. 

Look on the Holy things of life. Keep a guard 
over your eyes. Be careful of your looks, for people 
remember our eyes, the expression of love, anger, 
or reproach. Our eyes make photographic pictures 
that never fade. 

Once on a snowy Christmas night I saw a little 
girl. Her eyes were shining like the candles on the 
Christmas tree. In her brown hair a knotted rib- 
bon held the strands back from her brow. Around 
her neck was a gold chain. She was dressed in 
white and the lights made her dress shining white. 
Her smile was like the morning sun. 

That picture will never fade away. 

In my vision I carry another picture. 

It was a Sunday afternoon in March. The little 



Jesus Looked 43 

girl I saw on Christmas night was lying in bed, white 
and wan. Her aunt sat by the bedside holding her 
hand. Her mother rose to go. As she passed out 
of the door the child fastened her eyes on her mother 
with a loving expression and smiled farewell. 

"She looked a little wistfully, 

Then went her sunshine way: — 
The sea's eye had a mist on it, 
And the leaves fell from the day." 

Then in an hour, she looked into the face of Jesus 
and the smile of eternity was in her eyes. 

"The eyes of them that see shall not be dim . . . 
they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency 
of our God . . . and the King in His beauty." 



X 

The Land of Lovely Savings 

*\X7"E all know how easy it is to 1 ose things. We 
* * lose our hats, clothes, pencils, money, time, 
dolls, toys and sometimes ourselves. The world is 
full of lost things. 

George McDonald, a Scotch poet, tells us about 
a little girl. She lost her dolls. Her thimble ran 
below the stairs and she could not find it any more. 
Round her neck, the little girl wore a string of beads. 
By some accident the string/ broke and the beads 
were scattered everywhere. One day she went out 
and lost her way over the hills. She wandered into 
the woods. There she found a brook. She fol- 
lowed it and the brook got lost in the sea. Then 
the worst of all her losings was the loss of her 
mother. There was not another bosom in all the 
world where she could lay her head. Then she lost 
the dimples in her cheeks ; the snow lady came from 
the Northland and took them away into the land 
where the lost things go. Then she lost her health 
and last of all, she lost herself. The world slipped 

through her fingers like the sand on the seashore. 

44 



The Land of Lovely Savings 45 

Then she went whirling through clouds of pearl gray 
into the blue, so far and so blue, on to the land where 
the suns never set. 

"For first she found her mother, 

And for very joy she cried; 
And then she found that other 
Who kept her heart inside. 

"And she found herself all mended, 
New-fitted clean and white ; 
And she found her health new-blended 
With a radiant delight. 

"So, if you cannot keep things, 
Be quiet till to-morrow; 
And mind you don't beweep things 
That are not worth your sorrow. 

"For the Father great of fathers, 
And of all the girls and boys, 
Us in His arms all gathers, 
And cares about our toys." 



XI 

Eagles and Sparrows 

FN the letters of Theodore Roosevelt, American, 

President, statesman, patriot, sportsman and 

eternal boy, there is a wonderful saying by his wife. 

It seems that during the great war, when the last 
of their four boys enlisted in the service of his coun- 
try, the allies, and the world, Mr. Roosevelt was just 
a little daunted when the youngest left for the front. 

We understand now how his brave heart was cast 
down. His health was beginning to fail, but his 
wife said to him, "You must not bring up your chil- 
dren like eagles and expect them to act like spar- 
rows." A noble saying worthy of an American 
mother. And long years after she is laid beside her 
husband people will remember and quote the words. 

Theodore Roosevelt did his best to train Ameri- 
cans to live an eagle life. He called it a "strenuous 
life," a life of effort for God and country. He set 
us all an example by living nobly, working hard, 
acting independently and going regularly to church. \ 

Consider now the character of the eagle : 

They never go in flocks; like Mr. Roosevelt they 

46 



Eagles and Sparrows 47 

are independent. They soar beyond the lower areas 
of life. An eagle life is one lived above and beyond 
the earth. 

"Do you imagine that is easy?" 

Well, it is not, I assure you. 

"Remember now," a queen mother in a Royal 
Palace would say to her son, "some day you are to 
be a king." 

The Royal mother was trying to make a man out 
of her Kingly son, to put the 1 eagle spirit into him ! 

"Now remember, boys and girls, some day you 
are to be men and women. Have you determined 
to have the eagle spirit? We are called out of spar- 
rowhood into eagleship !" 

Hear the call of the Sparrow! 

He chirps and chatters in the hedges, around the 
chimney corners. On the city streets he hops and 
jumps between the cars. Sparrows pick out of the 
rubbish and feed on the crumbs of tables. They fly 
in flocks for safety and ne\>er, never soar into the 
blue sky like the lark or the eagle. 

Sparrows are common birds, they are hunted and 
despised by common men. Nobody cares very much 
for a sparrow. They have no thrilling song, beauti- 
ful coloring, or useful service. Sparrows live in- 
glorious lives. "Are not two sparrows sold for a 
farthing?" 



48 Gardens of Green 

They have poor lives, ah, yes, but great funerals. 
God, the maker of heaven and earth stands by the 
bed of the dying sparrow in the fields. 

Hear the call of the Eagle ! 

Come up to the heights above the earth. I nest 
on the mountain tops. My children play among the 
snow peaks. On windy days I watch the white 
clouds bend down to the cold crags and kiss the earth 
good-by before they go into the blue, so blue and so 
far. At daybreak I see the yellow sun rise out of 
the white, curling sea. All day I watch the sun, 
and nod its rays good-by at night. 

The stars twinkle over my nest. Flashing light- 
ning and crashing thunder play over my head. My 
path is towards the rainbow. I see all the ways of 
men below and the roll of the land. Out of my nest 
I watch the city lights at night go out. Up where I 
live all things are vast and limitless. 

I soar to the sun and scream to the winds, as I 
rise and rise and rise. 

The eagle is doing what God wants us all to do — 
To rise up to "perfection's sacred heights." To love 
the things that are lofty, to see the world from the 
heights, where God looks down on men. To be 
Kingly in character. 

How can we escape from a sparrow life into the 
high heights of the eagle? There is only one way, 
and I am sure Theodore Roosevelt knew it. 



Eagles and Sparrow* 49 

Here is the secret : Wait on the Lord. 

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
strength, they shall mount up as eagles on wings; 
they shall walk and not faint.' ' 



XII 

Let Us Laugh ! 

I" N the days long ago, when the world was young, 
A a woman held a baby in her arms. She looked 
at it and said: "God hath made me to laugh and 
every one that heareth me will laugh with me." 

Certainly; for God has made us for laughter. 
God has taught us to laugh. He plans laughter as 
a part of our life. Laughing is good medicine. And 
the way to live long and die happy is to laugh. 

"Was there ever a family like ours where there 
is so much laughter?" said Charles Kingsley. 

Old Solomon was a wise man, very wise indeed, 
for he said : "A cheerful heart is a good medicine" 
(or, as the Hebrew puts it, "causes good healing"), 
"but a broken spirit drieth up the bones." 

"I am persuaded," wrote Laurence Sterne, "that 
every time a man smiles, but much more when he 
laughs, it adds something to his fragment of life." 
Let us lengthen our days then by laughing. 

Dr. Clark of Bellevue Hospital, New York, once 

said, "Many lives might be preserved through years 

of usefulness if the medical fraternity would only 

50 



Let Us Lauerh! 51 



l t5 



give more attention to the scientific study of laugh- 
ter." We have heard much of late of the faith- 
cure, the rest-cure; who knows but we may hear 
next of the laughter-cure ? 

Laughing is good business. Some of you will 
be business men and women when you grow up. 

Once upon a time a man went into the market 
to buy potatoes. At the first stall a man scowled, 
at the second stall, the potato dealer had a cold, 
dreary face, at the third stall, the trader had a wintry 
smile, at the fourth stand the potato merchant looked 
as if he had lost his best friend, at the fifth stall a 
jolly, fat, laughing old woman sat. "Here ye are, 
Sir," she cried, "potatoes as big as Swedish turnips. 
When ye boil them in their jackets they'll all be 
laughin' at ye." 

"Tell me the price, Madam." 

"Sixty, sevinty an' eighty cents a basket." 

"I'll take all you have," said the buyer with a 
cheery laugh. 

Then every time the potatoes came on the table 
every eye winked and the potatoes burst their jackets 
laughing. Father, mother and the boys and girls 
all laughed and were happy. And old Aunt Sue 
forgot her indigestion. 

That woman made true the words of Charles 
Lamb : "A laugh is worth a hundred groans in 
any market." 



52 Gardens of Green 

Laughing is good religion. Some folks look as 
if they had been christened with vinegar. They 
look so sour. 

Did Jesus say, "Ye are the gloom, the sorrow, the 
tears of the world?" 

No. "Ye are the light of the world." 

Children cry in the dark but they laugh in the 
sunlight. Christ taught us "the glorious gospel of 
the happy God." So when things go wrong, laugh. 
If you are afraid, laugh; meals late, just laugh. 
Somebody says nasty things about you, well, laugh. 
When you feel like crying, laugh. 

For listen to me now. Tears shall be wiped away ; 
an end of tears will come some day. Think of that ! 
But never a time when we shall not laugh. 

Away in New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean 
where the wild savages are only learning about the 
religion of Jesus, a native once prayed: "Help us 
to live a holy, active life here and go hereafter to 
the place of laughter." 

Then our mouth will be filled with laughter and 
our tongue with singing. Then we shall say, "The 
Lord hath done great things for us, the Lord hath 
done great things for us whereof we are glad." 

So we laugh! 



XIII 

Sing a Song of Spring 

"P VERYBODY loves the springtime. Hale and 
"^ well, sick and sorrowful look forward to the 
spring. The days are longer; the sun is stronger; 
the air is warmer; flowers are peeping out, snow- 
drops, hyacinths and lilies from the Indian Islands; 
and down by the brook water cress is appearing. 
The willow trees are green and the hedges are surg- 
ing with sap. 

The dainty crocus rears her head in the young 
grass. Yellow daffodils and jonquils are trumpet- 
ing the advance of summer. White star narcissus 
tell of a new season. 

The primrose, "the flower of gracious breeding," 
Ruskin called it, when young is confined to five 
pinching green leaves whose points close over the 
bud. That is the nursery of .the primrose. They 
come out of that stage quite naturally like children, 
unfolding their young lives, until the season when 
they blossom out in splendid yellow glory in the 
woods. 

53 



54 Gardens of Green 

It's the modesty and the quiet beauty of the prim- 
rose that every one loves. It faces the Easter world 
with a brave face and blooms on, even in danger of 
the setback from the retiring winter blasts. 

"Oh, little primrose ! 
Serene thou openest to the nipping gale 
Unnoticed and alone 
Thy tender elegance!" 

I believe the Germans call it the "key flower," a 
beautiful name, indeed! It was supposed to have 
magic powers and opened the way to the hidden 
treasures of the earth. 

Well ! we believe the primrose to be the key to the 
summer days. It opens the gates that lead into the 
smiling morn of summer. 

Has not Jesus been called the key to the grave? 
He rose again and opened for us the gates of Para- 
dise. 

Over in the woods the robins are piping their 
spring song. St. Francis of Assisi loyed the birds 
and they trusted him. He preached to them. 

"My sister birds ! You owe God much gratitude, 
and ought always and everywhere to praise and exalt 
him, because you can fly so freely, wherever you 
want to, and for your double and threefold clothing 
and for your colored and adorning coats, and for 
the food which you do not have to work for, and 



Sing a Song of Spring 55 

for the beautiful voices the Creator has given you. 
You sow not, neither do you reap, but God feeds 
you, and gives you rivers and springs to drink from, 
and hills and mountains, cliffs and rocks to hide 
yourselves in, and high trees for you to build your 
nests in, and though you can neither spin nor weave, 
he gives you the necessary clothing. Love there- 
fore the Creator much, since he has given you such 
great blessings. Watch therefore well, my sister 
birds, that you are not ungrateful, but busy your- 
selves always in praising God!" 

Springtime is singing time when we sing and 
make melody in our hearts. For the best song of 
all is the spring song in the heart. When God 
touches our hearts new chords and hidden melodies 
bubble out. 

In Freiburg Cathedral there was a wonderful 
organ and one day a stranger asked the sexton's per- 
mission to play. "Strangers are not allowed," re- 
plied the sexton. But the stranger pleaded hard and 
at last the sexton consented. The stranger sat down 
and soon beautiful strains filled the Cathedral. 
Such music as never had been heard before. "To 
think I refused you permission to play. What is 
your name?" asked the sexton with tears in his eyes. 

"Mendelssohn." 

A greater musician than he, the Great Musician, 
is waiting to put his fingers on our heart-strings — 



56 Gardens of Green 

to make melody in the springtime of our lives, to 
gladden our days and give us songs in the night sea- 
sons. Let Him teach us and we can be as He wants 

us 

"Singing and making melody with our hearts." 



XIV 
The Wonderful Tomb 

(Easter Sunday) 

FESUS was a poor man and when He died a rich 
•^ man begged His body and buried it in a garden 
tomb outside the city of Jerusalem. Early in the 
morning some women bringing spices and herbs 
entered the garden while the dews were on the grass 
and the birds were singing their morning song. Only 
one thought weighed on their hearts, 'how the big 
stone at the entrance to the tomb was to be rolled 
away. 

The tomb was empty. Inside the grave clothes 
and napkins were neatly folded and angels were 
guarding the place where Jesus had lain. 

No haste, no confusion, everything in splendid 
order for the Lord had risen with power. 

This tomb was different from any other men had 
ever seen. Hence the joy of Easter. It was a tomb 
of beginnings, instead of endings. Jesus was the 
leader of a new race. He died but He rose again. 
His followers will be like Him. Death cannot hold 

57 



58 Gardens of Green 

them. Out of the empty tomb of Jesus come all 
the new hopes of the old world. 

This wonderful tomb then was the first Christian 
pulpit. Women made up the audience, an angel was 
the preacher and the text of his sermon was, "He is 
not here. He is risen." 

This wonderful tomb was a place of restoration. 
Joseph buried Jesus but He rose again. Out of death 
and decay then came eternal life. 

A workman in Faraday's, the scientist's workshop, 
let a beautiful silver cup fall into a bath of strong 
acid. In a little while it disappeared. The man told 
Faraday, who said nothing but cast another acid 
into the bath. In a few moments the lost silver lay 
a shapeless mass on the bottom, but every grain was 
there. 

They took it to the silversmith's and in a few 
days it came back again a finer and more beautiful 
cup. 

So will God do with us after the decay and the 
corruption and horror of the tomb. He will restore 
us again in the glory of His holy resurrection. 

A poor woman in an Eastern city complained to 
the Sultan that while she slept thieves took her all. 

"Why did you sleep?" 

"My Lord," she replied, "I slept because I thought 
you were ever awake." 

The wonderful tomb of Jesus was guarded by 



The Wonderful Tomb 59 

angels. But the Lord of the Empty Tomb watches 
over all the graves of those who sleep in Jesus. Is 
it not marvelous that he does this Himself? Even 
the angels are not trusted with this office. He giveth 
His beloved guarded sleep. Over all the tombs of 
believers and the baptized children of the church 
Jesus keeps watch and ward. 

This wonderful new tomb in a garden restored 
the joy, the happiness and the peace lost in an old 
garden when the world was in its childhood. We 
live in a world of lost things, lost people, lost dreams 
and hopes, and the tomb of Jesus is the entrance into 
the land of "lovely savings," where all the lost things 
of life are restored. 

Easter is the glad festival, the springtime of the 
church. So let us sing and be glad. 

"Christ is risen — He is risen ! 

Mighty winds the tidings spread, 
Budding trees and fields extol Him, 
Christ is risen from the dead!" 



XV 

The Royalty of Giving 

nPO get things is easy, to give is hard; and to 

withhold from giving hardens the heart and 

dries up our sympathies. Who wants to be hard? 

Now, the way not to be hard is to learn how to 
give, for the act of giving makes us Godlike. 

First of all we should hand ourselves over to God. 
Then give our money, talents, time, service and love 
after the manner of Christ, our pattern. 

Giving is a duty. Some grown up people never 
know that, and to make a rich man see his duty a 
plain speaking minister said, "Look here, my 
friend," and he wrote "God" on a piece of white 
paper. "Can you see that?" 

"Why certaintly," answered the rich man. 

"Spell it," said the clergyman. 

"G-o-d. God." 

Then the preacher took a silver dollar from his 
pocket and laid it upon the word "God." 

"Can you see it now ?" he asked. 

"Oh! No — how can I?" replied the rich man. 

"Thine eyes — are but for thy covetousness," said 

60 



The Royalty of Giving 61 

the minister. Dollars were covering the vision of 
God. The poor rich man had never learned the duty 
of giving. Giving is a joy. 

Once in the early decades of the last century in 
the town of Blairgowrie in Scotland those who left 
the State church to be free from government rule 
in church life, had great difficulty getting a building 
for the worship of God. At last they got some 
land and stones to build with. So they went on 
with the material they had until they came to the 
lintel-stone for the door. There they stuck fast and 
could get no further ahead. One day the minister 
called on a poor woman. She was a member of the 
church and heard of the need of a large stone. With 
great gladness she offered her hearthstone. 

"I am proud to give my hearthstone for the house 
of God." It was joyfully accepted and long years 
after when a fine new church was built her hearth- 
stone was given a prominent place, and to this day 
the story is told about her. 

Surely Jesus, who promised a memorial to an- 
other poor woman, remembered the woman in Scot- 
land "who did what she could." 

"Giving always brings reward. Once in the 
golden ages when some men saw with clear eyes the 
things that were dim, there was a man named 
Pyrrhus. He found a captive in a pirate ship. He 



62 Gardens of Green 

had compassion and bought him and his goods, which 
consisted of several barrels of pitch. 

The poor captive saw that Pyrrhus had out of 
his goodness of heart bought him. So to reward 
his buyer he showed him a great treasure of gold 
that he had hidden in the pitch. 

Pyrrhus became enormously rich by his small 
sacrifice. 

Then we have always before our eyes a living pat- 
tern of giving, a model to copy after, in Jesus Christ 
our Saviour. He has shown us how to give. 

"He gave Himself for us, the just for the un- 
just." 



XVI 
Escapes by a Hairbreadth 

DID you ever see a boy curled up in a chair, ab- 
sorbed in a book? You cried, "Hello!" He 
never heard you. Why ? The story was at an excit- 
ing stage and the hero had escaped by a hairbreadth. 
He just succeeded in scaling the prison wall, or he 
has just broken from a fierce tribe of Red Indians, 
or he is flying for his life from a horde of cannibals. 

An Australian, F. W. Boreham, says the three 
most popular books in the English language (and 
he could have said some other languages) are 
crammed from cover to cover with astonishing 
records of hairbreadth escapes. The books are: 
"The Bible," "Pilgrim's Progress," and "Robinson 
Crusoe." Why did he not mention Stevenson's 
"Treasure Island" ? How we watched the boy in the 
barrel ! 

Look at the Bible. Here are Lot's escape from 
Sodom, Isaac's escape from the altar, Joseph's es- 
cape from the pit, Israel's escape from Egypt, 
Moses's escape from Pharaoh, Elijah's escape from 
Jezebel, David's escape from Saul, Jonah's escape 

63 



64 Gardens of Green 

from the deep, Jeremiah's escape from the dungeon, 
the Hebrew children's escape from the burning fiery 
furnace, Daniel's escape from the lions, Peter's es- 
cape from prison, Paul's escape from shipwreck, 
John's escape from exile, and very many more. Did 
ever book contain so many astounding adventures? 

Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is all about Chris- 
tian's escape from the City of Destruction, his es- 
cape from the Slough of Despond, his escape from 
Apollyon, his escape from Vanity Fair, his escape 
from the Flatterer's net, his escape from Giant De- 
spair, his escape from the Valley of the Shadow, 
and his escape from the waters of the river. And 
as for "Robinson Crusoe," there is a hairbreadth 
escape on almost every page. 

In the history of the men of the church: John 
Wesley never forgot his deliverance, as a child, from 
the burning parsonage. Dr. Thomas Guthrie had a 
miraculous escape from falling over the cliffs of 
Arbroath. John Kruse had a wonderful escape from 
the bullet of an assassin. In America George Wash- 
ington nearly lost his life at White Plains. In 
Africa David Livingstone, the African missionary, 
was under th epaw of a lion and escaped. 

There are many ways of evading the hard and 
the actual things in life. 

Is your world small, narrow and hard? Then 
you may escape into a bigger one by books, out into 



Escapes by a Hairbreadth 65 

the company of the wise, the noble, the great, princes, 
potentates, explorers, inventors, discoverers and the 
adventurers. 

"The snare is broken and I am escaped!" cries 
the boy who has been sorely tempted to impurity. A 
hairbreadth escape ! God provides a way of escape 
from every temptation. 

We sometimes want some one to help us escape 
from ourselves. Do you ever get tired of yourself? 

"There is one person from whom you must con- 
trive to escape," said the Doctor to Lady Inglesby, 
his patient, in Mrs. Barclay's "Mistress of Shen- 
stone." 

"One person ?" queried Lady Inglesby. "But 

whom? Whom can you mean?" 

"I mean Lady Inglesby," replied the Doctor 
gravely. 

And Lady Inglesby went to a seaside inn at which 
she stayed incognito. She wrote : "It v/as a stroke 
of genius, this setting me free from myself." 

God has provided a way for those who cannot 
run : the Sanctuary. In the deer forests the deers 
have a place. It is called "The Deer's Sanctuary," 
I believe, where they can retire, and no one will 
molest them. If a hunter entered their haven of 
refuge the deer would leave and never return. 

God's church and worship in the Sanctuary is 
our place of escape. The hymn says: 



66 Gardens of Green 

"And oft escaped the tempter's snare 
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer." 

God's house is our escape from the corruption in 
the world. There we retire from the noise, the 
strife and commotion, get hold of eternal truths, see 
celestial lights and put our souls on the top of the 
world. 



XVII 

It's May Day, Hurrah! 

f I A HE merry month of May is here, hurrah! 
-*• It's May Day, hurrah! May Day is festival 
day in the church and out of it. 

In merry England, bleak Scotland, and sunshiny 
America the first day of May is ushered in with 
festivals, dancing, fire-lighting, parades, and May- 
pole dances. 

In dear old dirty London town for hundreds of 
years the dairy maids dressed in their best clothes 
and called on their customers on May morning. 
That was continued until milk bottles and sanitation 
was invented. Chimney sweepers, too, held high 
revel at mid-day on May Day. 

The old rime says : 

"The first of May is garland day 
And chimney sweepers' dancing day. 
Curl your locks, as I do mine, 
One before, and one behind." 

In Scotia the girls go into the fields on the first 

day of May and wash their faces in the morning 

dew. It makes their cheeks rosy all the year round. 

67 



68 Gardens of Green 

But let us get out into the country for it's May 
Day. Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 

The sun rose out of its bed of saffron clouds, be- 
hind the black hills, and smiled over the green fields 
of tender grass. The smell of summer is in the 
air. 

From the walls of an old garden comes floating 
the fragrance of wall flowers. Years and years ago 
monks walked along the paths, reciting their eve- 
ning prayers and the piety of these old Abbey 
tenants lingers in the fragrance of the flowers. 
Years and years after they have gone their prayers 
bloom again on May morning. Even the breath of 
flowers is incense to God. 

Beds of double daisies, forget-me-nots and pansies 
are spread out for the dainty feet of the May Queen 
to tread on. Along the farm road you pass below 
the cherry trees. 

"The cherry trees are seas of bloom, 
And soft perfume, and sweet perfume." 

The petals fall like snow, whitening the roads, and 
every man and maid can walk on a perfumed carpet 
of blossoms white. On low bushes, against the 
fence, in old John's garden roses are pouting their 
red lips and offering May morning kisses to every 
passer-by. 

Hush ! be still, listen. 



It's May Day, Hurrah! 69 

Over the hedge, across the fields, on the bridge, 
by the brook, the birds are singing May songs. A 
Hallelujah chorus to the God of May Day. 

" 'Do you ask what the birds say ?' The Sparrow, the 

Dove, 
The Linnet and Thrush say, T love and I love !' 
In the winter they're silent — the wind is so strong; 
What it says I don't know, but it sings a loud song ; 
But green leaves and blossoms, and sunny warm 

weather, 
And singing and loving, all come back together." 

On May Day the birds sing of love, summer and 
sunshine. Hurrah! Then after dark on May Day 
the owls cry, "tw-whit- tu-whoo — " through the 
dusk at the moon. 

"It is May, and the moon leans down all night 
Over a blossomy land." 

Hurrah! Hurrah! It's May time. 



XVIII 
"The Pink and the White" 

■(Mothers' Day) 

'T^HIS is Mothers' Day in America, when the 
carnations are worn in honor of the mothers. 

Boys and girls away from home are sending let- 
ters and telegrams home to mother. Busy city men 
stop and say quietly under their breath, "my 
mother." A beautiful, hallowed custom ! Long life 
to the mothers of our land! For the mothers pro- 
moted into eternal rest, welcomed into the mansions 
of God by Jesus, Son of Mary, we are wearing white 
carnations. Mothers in glory are remembered. 
They have loved, they have lived, and departed, 
continue to love, leaving fragrant memories of de- 
votion and service. For the mothers still with us 
we are wearing pink carnations and holding up our 
heads in pride. They are here lifting us up and 
urging us on. 

A boy fell into the water when his canoe upset 

about a mile from shore and he swam to safety. 

70 



"The Pink and the White" 71 

"How did you manage, my son?" said his mother. 

"I thought of you." 

How many millions there are doing their best 
because of the thought of mother ! 

Mothers' Day makes us remember the need of 
our souls being white. An old English play de- 
scribes a character having "soul as white as heaven." 
It is splendidly possible to wear the white carnation 
of a blameless life. 

There is one way to do this great thing, only one 
way, by Divine chemistry. The stains that smirch 
our souls, the black blotches of sin can all be changed. 
"Though your sins be as scarlet, though they be red 
like crimson, they shall be white as wool." 

So much for the soul, now for our clothing. 

Let it be told on this Mothers' Day by all the 
mothers to all the sons, "Let thy garments be always 
white." In the palmy days of old Rome when her 
victorious eagles were known in every land, the re- 
turn of a conquering army was a great event in the 
capital. Citizens turned out to give them a white 
reception. They wore white togas, the white gar- 
ments worn only at religious festival seasons. If 
it were possible, I wish all the mothers of brave men 
could wear white on Mothers' Day, the symbolic 
dress of victory. Well in their honor the sons and 
daughters can keep white because our mothers were 
tired and sleepless for us, they endured pain and 



72 Gardens of Green 

anguish and went down to the edge of the eternal 
sea and brought us back from the land of God's 
births. For us they were blameless and white. What 
a debt we owe them ! 

"Happy he 
With such a mother ! Faith in womanhood 
Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high, 
Comes easy to him, and though he trip and fall 
He shall not blend his soul with clay." 



XIX 

The Fruits of Whitsunday 

f" T was a new day for the world when the blessed 
Spirit came down at Pentecost. The event is 
known in the church as Whitsunday and occurs fifty 
days after Easter Sunday. 

In the early days of* the church of Christ, those 
who had been taught the simple truths of our Chris- 
tian faith presented themselves for baptism in "albo" 
or white garments. Hence the name Whit- or White- 
Sunday. 

The symbols of the Holy Spirit are chiefly the 
"tongue of fire" and the peaceful dove. It was in 
flaming tongues of fire that the spirit descended 
on the apostles. But as a gentle dove He came down 
on the Lord Christ. 

There are some things we should remember about 

the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is a person and 

a gift from God to those who believe in His Son. 

Like God, the Father and the Saviour He has a work 

to do. He is the dispenser of God's gifts, God's 

almoner to the poor world. 

73 



74 Gardens of Green 

One day when Paul was an old man he sat down 
and wrote out a partial list of the fruits of the Be- 
loved Spirit's descent at Whitsunday. At the top 
he wrote : "Love." The chief fruit is love. 

It happened in heaven that the glorified men were 
discussing which of them all owed most to redeem- 
ing grace. Each told his story. Then they voted 
until only two were left in the contest. The first of 
the two was an old man who had spent his life in sin 
and on his deathbed had been forgiven. The other, 
an old man, too, had served God from his boyhood. 
When the last vote was taken the second man won 
because his life had been full of love and the one 
who had sinned most had seen and felt only one 
act of love at the close of his days. 

The greatest thing in this world is love. 

Then Paul added "joy and peace" to the list. They 
are like twins, clear, bright-eyed, warm-hearted girls. 
They dress alike and look alike. Only by their jewels 
can they be distinguished. Joy wears a glowing 
ruby; Peace, a radiant pearl. 

Long suffering, the grace of patience with cross 
grained, surly people. Kindness or gentleness, simply 
being pleasant and meeting our friends half way. 
When addressed roughly, not answering back in 
the same spirit. 

"Oh! but that is not natural." 

Yes, I know! But the Holy Spirit is the gentle 



The Fruits of Whitsunday 75 

Spirit. By His grace and gift we do the things that 
are naturally impossible. 

Goodness is something better than good manners. 

Maeterlinck says : "Be good at the depths of you 
and you will discover — those who surround you will 
be good at the same depths." 

Trustfulness is the club we use on giant suspicion 
and all his green-eyed relations. The power to be- 
lieve the best in face of the worst. 

Meekness. 

"Greater is he that ruleth his spirit, than he that 
taketh a city." 

Moses, the meekest man was a mighty ruler, 
leader and lawyer. Abraham Lincoln, the strongest 
man America has produced, was one of the meekest 
of mortals. 

Self-control is the bond or binding that holds all 
the other fruits together. The power we need to- 
master our appetites and desires. 

"Who keeps no guard upon himself is slack 
And rots to nothing at the next great thaw." 

To deny ourselves nothing that we crave, if we can 
get it, is a poor sort of a person, indeed. 

In ye olden days the faithful knight, as shown 
in the pictures, had every muscle in his body trained 
His armor and his spirit were under rule. He was, 
a knight in self-control and chivalry. 



76 Gardens of Green 

Why cannot all of us be Dames and Knights of 
the Order of the Holy Ghost? 

By the Glad Spirit's power we are mastered. At 
Whitsuntide He crowns us. 

"Thee o'er thyself I crown and mitre." 



XX 

What Do You Think? 

TI^HATEVER you think the bell clinks," just 
* * try it and find out. 

My first school, set on a hill overlooking a busy 
river, had a little tinkling bell. It rang in a fussy, 
jerky way: "Come-to-school. Come-to- school. 
Come-to-school." You see we were thinking as the 
bell was clinking: "Come-to-school. Come-to- 
school." 

God made our minds for thinking. All sorts of 
thoughts come crowding into our heads like sheep 
crowding into a sheep-pen. Day and night our 
thoughts are working on something. 

How many and how different these thoughts are! 

Heavy, hammer thoughts, hard and strong that 
fall with shattering blows and break up the good 
things we try to do, shattering our best intentions 
into little fragments, hardening our hearts and 
making us forgetful of all the lovely things in the 
world. 

Serpent thoughts, sneaky, wriggling things. 

Ugh ! I would like to dismiss the subject, but every 

77 



78 Gardens of Green 

boy and girl in the world should be warned about 
the power of unclean thoughts. Evil imaginings 
are "vain things," says the old Psalmist of Israel, 
away back in Judea. 

Evil thoughts are like radium, says the Scientist 
in the twentieth century. He works in the college 
laboratory and understands the power of evil and 
radium. That wonderful mineral, if carried in a 
tin box in the inside pocket of a boy's coat, so great 
is its power, that it would burn its way through the 
box, the clothing and into the flesh! Carrying 
radium around would be death. So our unclean 
thoughts, if carried in the heart, eat through the 
flesh and the skin and corrupt even the clothing. 

Strive with all your might to keep your thoughts 
clean. 

Fretting thoughts! Oh! the uselessness of fret- 
ting and worrying. 

"Worryfolk are sure to frown, 
Be the weather what it may; 
Keep in sight of Sunny Town, 
And you cannot lose the way. 

"Hill paths are the best, you'll find, 
Sunshine falls on every hand; 
So beware of paths that wind 
Down the vale to Worryland." 

Vagrant thoughts we have in abundance. They 
come tramping into our minds. You know what 
a tramp is: a hobo, those aimless wanderers over 



What Do You Think? 79 

the roads, who never work, but live on the folks 
who do the work of the world. One of these vaga- 
bonds said: 

"Dunno about life — it's jest a tramp alone 
From wakin' time to doss. 

• ••••••• 

"My mark's the gypsy fires, the lonely inns 
An' jest the dusty road." 

When our minds are idle, vagrant thoughts come 
tramping in, wild thoughts like the ponies on the 
western ranches, without reins or harness. They 
come trotting into the open pastures of our un- 
fenced minds. 

"Fleeting thoughts on wings of fancy, up from 
the swamps they rise." 

"Father, I can't sleep; thoughts keep crowding 
into my mind," complained a sleepless girl. 

"Tell your mind to lie still," replied the father. 

"But my mind won't obey. It will not sit down 
when I order it," answered the child. 

"Dear me! What is one to do with all these 
vagrant thoughts? How are they to be controlled 
and kept in their proper place?" 

In all ages wise men have tried devious ways of 
mastering the thoughts of our minds. It's an old 
problem with an easy solution : 

We are to think the thoughts of God. "Let the 
mind that was in Christ Jesus be in you." Then 



80 Gardens of Green 

His great thoughts will master our little wayward 
thinking. His master mind will control our serving 
mi id. For there is a law that governs all thought. 
A rule and a road that leads to noble thinking. 
Whereby every thought becomes a captive of the 
Master. 

"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatso- 
ever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 
whatsoever things are of good report — think on 
these things." 



XXI 

The Blushing Flower 

r I A HE home of Jesus our Saviour was in a lovely 
■*■ country. All around the place where He lived 
with His mother, and sisters, and brothers were 
flowers, both wild and cultivated. 

By the roadside, on the hills, in the valleys, across 
the fields where the white sheep grazed, and the 
shepherds watched the young lambs, flowers were 
growing. 

Our Lord had a lovely life and a lowly death, but 
He was raised in a land of flowers. They budded, 
bloomed, and filled the warm air with their rich 
fragrance. 

I am sure He knew the names of all the blossoms 
in Nazareth. But as far as we know He only drew 
attention to one among the hundreds of varieties 
that spread in rich profusion around His mother's 
home. 

To the anxious, worried people about Him, and 

the disciples who always wanted to know what was 

on ahead and round the corner, Jesus said : 

"Consider the lilies of the fields; they toil not, 

81 



82 Gardens of Green 

neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these." 

"Give heed" to them, pay attention, look closely 
at the lilies. 

"Why," you ask, "did He single the lilies out 
from among all the flowers of the land of Naza- 
reth?" 

In my humble opinion the first reason was on ac- 
count of their beauty. Jesus our Saviour loved 
beautiful things, the flowers, the trees, the blue sky 
with white speckled clouds, the clucking rivers, and 
gurgling brooks, the sunsets, when the sun went 
down in the night clouds behinds the blue black 
hills of Galilee. 

If we grow like Him we shall love the beauty of 
the world as He loved it. 

We address God as Holy! Infinite! Mighty! 

Why should we not say, "Beautiful art Thou in 
Thy Holiness, O Thou Son of God, Lover of all 
things fair and bright" ? 

"How beautiful God is!" I heard a lady say, as 
we sailed up a river in Western Canada. Overhead 
the cliffs hung like granite eyebrows over the shin- 
ing river ; green grass on the banks, and all the quiet 
glory of a summer day slumbered beyond the Rocky 
Mountains. 

Yes, God is beautiful, and He loves beautiful folks 
who are the lilies of His Home. 



The Blushing Flower 83 

Consider the lilies. How common they are ! The 
boys of Nazareth could pluck a handful of them as 
they ran to school. Girls put them in their hair, 
made lily chains and garlands of them. Jesus 
wanted us to see how glorious was the common 
flower. 

"God must have loved common folks," said 
Abraham Lincoln, the man who rose from a cabin 
home to fill the Presidential chair, "because He 
made so many of them." 

Most of the things that every one of us must 
look at, live amongst, and do, are ordinary, plain 
things. And God makes them in abundance like 
the lilies. God says to us, "See the beauty, watch 
for it. Consider long enough and you will see how 
much beauty there is in common things." 

Lilies then we see are beautiful, common and 
humble. 

An old world tale says that the ordinary lily of 
our Lord's land was once very proud. But our 
Saviour gave it a new beauty. 

One day Jesus was walking in a garden and the 
flowers had come to know that Jesus of the village 
was God, visiting the world. All the trees and the 
flowers saw in Him their maker, and when He 
entered the gardens the trees would whisper to the 
bushes, and the bushes passed the word to the 
flowers, "The Master is coming." 



84* Gardens of Green 

Then all the plants bowed their heads in hu- 
mility until the Lord of Heaven and Earth passed 
by. 

"Bow, He comes," whispered the flowers. 

The lily held up her head in pride. Jesus came 
along and looked at the unbending flower. "Lily," 
He said gently. It blushed and hung its head. 

That's the reason for the lily's humility. 



XXII 
Blossom Time, It's Blossom Time 

(Children's Day) 

/^ITY folks are content enough with their pave- 
^* ments and streets until the spring comes, when 
the grass appears in the public parks, the water cress 
in the grocers' windows, and the Italian organ man 
with his monkey begins his rounds. Then busy 
working men and women hear the brooks gurgling 
above the noise of trolley cars. They become flower 
hungry, and pine for the sunshine and the fields. 

Alfred Noyes put their craving into words when 
the barrel-organ caroled out: 

"Come down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac- 
time; 

Come down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from 
London), 

And you shall wander hand in hand with love in 
summer's wonderland, 

Come down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from 
London)." 

There's a welcome for you out in the green 

meadows. Myriads of daisies will nod their heads 

as you pass by. 

85 



86 Gardens of Green 

"When daisies pied, and violets blue 
And lady-smocks all silver-white 
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue 
Do paint the meadows with delight." 

How beautiful and useful are the daisies! They 
are protecting, so a poet says, by their shadows the 
dewdrops from the sun's heat. Modest crimson 
daisies are God's umbrellas over the dewdrops. 

Long, long ago when the world was in rompers, 
before it went to school with Jesus, the Lord said 
to a prophet, "What seest thou?" 

"What I see is the rod of an almond tree," re- 
plied the prophet. The almond was called by the 
Hebrews "wakeful." Its garland of flowers coming 
early in the year of the Holy Land, before the rest 
of the plants had wakened from their winter sleep, 
gave it that name. 

"Then, said the Lord, thou hast well seen, for 
wakeful am I over my word to perform it." 

God is awake early in the year to fulfill His prom- 
ises. And the blossoms are God's beautiful promises 
of fruit and harvest. 

It was Isaiah, another Hebrew prophet, who cried 
out when his people were poor, very poor. Indeed 
they were infirm, afflicted, needy and hopeless. 

"Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face 
of the earth with fruit." That promise has been 



Blossom Time, It's Blossom Time 87 

abundantly fulfilled, for from the far East to the 
near West the Jews are everywhere. 

Then blossoms are tokens of God's faithfulness. 
He promises and fulfills. Some people promise 
everything and do nothing. They forget all about 
it in a few moments. Not so God. He promises 
and gives us blossoms as tokens that He will keep 
His word. 

"What is a token?" you ask. 

It's a sign of something done, or some favor com- 
ing along. A key on a college man's watch chain 
is a token that he has done good work in his classes 
at college. He led his class in study, diligence, and 
conduct. 

The rainbow in the sky is God's token that He 
will not fail the world. Sunshine and shower, seed- 
time and harvest, summer and winter shall not fail. 

So the blossoms are spring tokens of eternal faith- 
fulness. Fragrant promises of autumn harvests, 
sweet forerunners of orchards and gardens filled 
with ripe fruit. 

Blossoms are pictures of God's character. How 
varied. How beautiful, how timely and how frag- 
rant are the blossoms. God is varied in His ways ; 
blossoms and fields are not all alike. He makes 
boys and girls to differ from one another, as one 
star differeth from another in glory. God arrives 
in time, just when we need Him most. And the 



88 Gardens of Green 

aroma from the characters of these who are flowers 
in God's garden pervades the world. 

The rich bloom in the meadows and orchards are 
peep holes, by which we look into the glory of God. 

When our Father in Heaven has His way with 
us and His holy purposes are our first thought, and 
every man seeks to do the will of God, "what will 
happen in the world?" 

"The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad 
and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 
It shall blossom abundantly; it shall rejoice even 
with joy and singing." 



XXIII 
The Tale of the Chrysoprase 

\XT HAT a strange word, chrysoprase ! 

* Some of you are wondering whether it 

is the name of a bird, a boy, a city, a flower or a 
girl. It sounds strange, foreign; and so it is. A 
Greek scholar would break the word into two parts. 
Let us divide this queer word. 

Chryso is a Greek word which means "golden." 
Prasos means "leek." Welshmen love leeks; it's 
their national flower. Ah! you say, "Golden leek. 
Chrysoprase is a common vegetable." No, you are 
wrong. 

It's a stone, one variety of which is golden-green 
and the other apple-green. One remarkable thing 
about this beautiful stone is the quality it possesses 
of retaining its color in artificial light. 

Once upon a time, about twenty years before the 
American revolution, Frederick the Great of Prus- 
sia was fighting in Silesia. He found great quanti- 
ties of chrysoprase in that country. Its color pleased 

him so much that he had two famous tables made 

89 



90 Gardens of Green 

of it. Then the nobility who followed his lead 
adopted the stone and it had a great vogue. 

But long, long before that when the apostle John 
was on the Island of Patmos he was describing the 
foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem and 
he said the tenth stone was the chrysoprase. 

It's a stone with a use, a message, and a story. 

Many years ago, when the world was young and 
innocent, there lived a beautiful Princess in the land 
of Roumania. Her name was Princess Trina. In 
other countries there were beautiful princesses. 
Some had stony hearts, and cold eyes, and haughty 
manners, but the Roumanian Princess had a loving 
heart, gentle eyes, and gracious ways. Best beloved 
of all the Royal Ladies, for she cared for her people. 

But alas ! alas ! the rain did not come down and a 
hunger for bread was in every home. "Go into other 
lands and buy corn," said the rulers, which the poor 
people did. And the prices rose higher — and higher. 
They paid what was asked until their money was all 
used up in keeping hunger from the door. 

When Princess Trina heard of the need she began 
to sell her jewels and gave the money to the famish- 
ing peasants. Diamonds, rubies, pearls, emeralds, 
all were sold, save one jewel which she valued highly, 
a little golden lizard with chrysoprase eyes, given 
by her mother on her wedding day. 

A wise man had once told her never to part with 



The Tale of the Chrysoprase 91 

it because some day it would bring her help and un- 
told wealth. Besides, whoever wore the chrysoprase 
would have the gift of understanding the language 
of animals. Naturally the Princess Trina was 
loath to sell a jewel with such powers. But mothers 
were suffering, children were crying day and night 
for food. Could she keep her last jewel and see her 
people perish with hunger? 

One evening after a trying day she knelt by her 
window, praying for strength to sacrifice her little 
golden lizard with the chrysoprase eyes. She looked 
up and on the window sill sat a lovely little lizard. 
Her eyes opened wide in surprise. The eyes of the 
lizard sparkled like the frost on a wintry night. 

"Oh, Princess," said the lizard, "do not despair, 
help shall arise for thee out of a river. Only seek." 

At once the Princess arose, put on her cloak and 
went out to look for the River-of-help. She searched 
the mountain streams until her feet were sore, wan- 
dered over the plains but found no river of help. 
Sometimes she was tempted to give up. Then she 
recalled the lizard's words, "Do not despair, help 
shall arise for thee out of a river. Only seek." 

At last she came to a mountain pass, working her 
way down the stream which formed the Ruil 
Doamnei and there she found at the river bank a 
great treasure of chrysoprase, the color of her golden 
lizard's eyes. 



92 Gardens of Green 

She sent for miners and they dug it up and sold 
it and bought bread for her famishing people and 
they ate in plenty until the famine was ended. 

That is why the waters of the Ruil Doamnei are 
leek-green even to this day. 

Now for the message. 

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. 
Seek ye first the Saviour of the Kingdom, 
Seek ye first the law of the Kingdom, 
Seek to enter into the gates of the New Jerusalem, 
Whose tenth stone is adorned with chrysoprase." 



XXIV 

Prince of the White Rose 

TTERE in America we have had a visit from 

A A David Windsor, Duke of Rothsay, Baron of 

Renfrew, and Prince of Wales, heir to the British 

crown. 

He came in our midst a smiling young stranger, 

and left behind him a host of friends and admirers. 

His guileless simplicity charmed the American 

people. 

"He is just like one of ourselves," a Washington 
lady remarked. He said we were democratic enough 
to be British and we think he was democratic enough 
to be American. The young Prince came, he was 
seen and he conquered the hearts of millions. 

"God bless the Prince of Wales." 

The old world across the Atlantic has seen hun- 
dreds of Princes play their part and pass on. Some 
of them heroic, others romantic, a few beautiful in 
character. Hearken ! while I tell you about a Prince 
of Scotland, the White Rose Prince, one of the most 
beloved figures that ever flitted across the pages of 
history. 

93 



94 Gardens of Green 

In Scotland, even to this day, old-fashioned peo- 
ple talk of Prince Charlie. He rode down the High 
Street of Edinburgh to Holyrood Palace through a 
surging crowd who strewed the ground with a carpet 
of white roses and waved their white-cockaded bon- 
nets. 

It reads like a fairy tale, his visit to the capital, 
but the wise old minister of the West Kirk saw a 
dark day for Scotland if the White Prince ascended 
the throne. Wisely he prayed "for the young man 
who comes seeking an earthly crown. May Heaven 
speedily send a Heavenly one." 

He was only a Prince Charming ! A few months 
of glitter, then the candles went out, the songs and 
laughter died. Then there was black Culloden Moor 
to remember with tears, and the noble who died in 
vain. So passed Prince Charlie of Scotland. 

All the princes pass on, but one Prince abides for- 
ever. The Prince of the Kings of the Earth, king 
of kings and Lord of Lords. 

What a great title ! 

He is the Prince with the crown of thorns on his 
head, a royal scepter in his nail torn hands. He is 
the Prince who is a Saviour. Hosanna to the son 
of David ! Blessed is He that cometh as a babe and 
reigneth as Prince Royal in the hearts of the world. 

A poor woman in India heard that God loved 
even her in her dark little home and wanted her love. 



Prince of the White Rose 95 

"But," she exclaimed, "I need some great Prince 
to stand between me and God!" To learn about 
God she asked a Pundit — that is one of the scholars 
— to read the Bible to her. 

He began at the first chapter of Matthew and read 
the list of names in the genealogy of Christ. 

"What a wonderful Prince this Jesus must be to 
have such a long line of ancestors," the woman cried 
out in surprise. 

The Pundit read on until he came to the words : 
"Then shalt thou call his name Jesus, for he shall 
save His people from their sins." 

"Oh!" the woman exclaimed, "this is the Prince 
I want! This is the Prince I want! The Prince 
who is also a Saviour." 

He is the Prince we all need! The Prince abso- 
lute, the Prince accessible, the Prince necessary, the 
Prince sufficient, the Saviour Prince of Peace. 



XXV 

Living with the Adverbs 

TDOYS and girls in the advanced grades know 
something about adverbs. In grammar they 
are first cousins to the prepositions, and by three 
of them we can nearly express the life we should 
live in this world. 

The Episcopal church uses these three wonderful 
adverbs in the form for Adult Baptism, the General 
Confession, and in the Consecration of Bishops. 

Soberly is the first word. 

In the speech of the New Testament we are to hold 
our mastery over temper, appetites and thoughts. 
Be balanced, steady and temperate in the things 
that relate to our bodies. 

When Greece was in her bloom Euripides said 
for a man to go soberly through life was "the fairest 
gift of the gods." Such is our first duty to our- 
selves. 

Righteously is the second word. 

Be upright, be honorable, be true. Live by the 

law of God. Have you heard the expressions, he is 

96 



Living with the Adverbs 97 

as "straight as a die," he is a "square fellow," he 
is a "white man," he "plays the game fairly" ? 

In the speech of the street these descriptive words 
come very near to the Bible idea of one who is living 
righteously. 

Such is the way, let me repeat, "righteously" is the 
way we are to live towards our friends and neigh- 
bors. So that at the end of the day the Great Captain 
in the Game of Life may say, ''Well done! You 
played the Game." 

Godly is the last of the trinity of adverbs. 

It's the matchless word in the English language, 
telling us how we are to act towards God ; in a Godly 
way. If we are Godly then we can be righteous 
and sober. 

By way of a hint as to how to be Godly, let us 
go into the fields. There you will find a certain in- 
sect. When put in the water it never gets wet, be- 
cause it has a way of creating a coating of air that 
keeps the water from touching it. Down below the 
surface it defies the water, resists it and keeps dry, 
untouched by the water. 

Godly living means living in the world with a 
secret atmosphere around us. It means God is our 
protecting shield, keeping us unblemished, unspotted, 
and white. We are in the world, but not conquered 
or submerged by it. God's grace is His gift for life 
with the three adverbs. 



98 Gardens of Green 

"For the grace of God hath appeared to all men, 
instructing us that denying ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly 
in this present world. ,, 



XXVI 

Epaphroditus 

"F PAPHRODITUS is a hard word to pronounce. 
"*~ ' But it's the name of a brave, true, Bible man, 
and the only gambler we read about in the Book of 
God. 

Listen to the story of what he did. 

Paul, the Apostle, was in a Roman prison in need 
of love, sympathy, friendship and money. He* 
wanted to send Timothy, his trusty comrade, on an 
errand, but it was impossible, so he sent a letter by 
Epaphroditus, his brother, fellow-worker, and fel- 
low-soldier. Three great titles ! 

Epaphroditus had crossed sea and land to carry 
this letter. He gambled, that is, took a great chance, 
with his life for Christ's sake, and to help poor old 
Paul in prison. 

Men gamble with their lives for the sake of riches 
— gold, diamonds, and rubies. Gamblers' chances are 
taken to discover new countries, to learn the secrets 
of the Poles, the heart of Africa, and the deserts of 
Asia. For the sake of science, to wrest from nature 
her wonders, health, wealth and happiness are staked. 

99 



100 Gardens of Green 

At present the world is ringing with the news of 
the first flight across the Atlantic. Americans and 
Englishmen have gambled with their lives in cross- 
ing the cold, stormy ocean in frail airships. 

Heroes they are, daring pioneers. "The Colum- 
buses of the air" the newspapers are calling these 
intrepid airmen. 

The world's progress and the spirit of enterprise, 
the spirit of adventure, the spirit of chivalry is kept 
alive by these heroic souls. 

Who! 

". . . with a joyful mind 
Bear through life like a torch in flame. 
And falling, fling to the host behind. 
Play up ! play up ! and play the game !" 

But Epaphroditus had also crossed a sea, the 
Adriatic. From Philippi clean across the blue 
Adriatic, then on foot he had walked the breadth of 
Italy, down into the Imperial city of Rome. "The 
ministrant to my needs," says old Paul in prison. 

Now he was to travel over the same road, brave 
the old dangers anew, meet cold, hunger, weariness 
and sea-sickness. It was a double gamble with his 
life. 

Let him have honor for his true-hearted courage. 
He is a hero, a soldier, an adventurer "for Christ 
and my sake." 

Never a word about Paul's sacrifice do we hear. 



Epaphroditus 101 

Alone in a city that only laughed at the things he 
believed. In danger of death he writes a letter to 
these friends away in distant Philippi. He thanks 
them for their gift. Courteous affection, gratitude 
and joy bubbles all over the letter, a prison letter 
carried by a gambler. 

With this wonderful letter, more precious than 
money, Epaphroditus gambles with his life again to 
carry it to its destination. 

The happiness that reigned in that little church 
in Asia Minor must have been great. And the won- 
derful part of the story is that it is the last we ever 
hear about that church. But the message and the 
brave act of Epaphroditus lives on. 

Cattle are browsing among the ruins of the colony 
of Philippi, but as long as the world lasts Paul's 
letter to the Philippians will be read. Written in an 
obscure house in Rome, carried by an obscure mes- 
senger, the old prophecy is true. 

"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the 
word of our God shall stand forever." 

We have part of the precious word because 
Epaphroditus gambled with his life to carry it. 



XXVII 

The Garden That Was Lost 

/ | A HE gardens are all in bloom and the garden 
makers are glad. Let me tell you about the 
garden that was lost. 

"How can a garden be lost?" you say. "That's 
impossible !" 

"No, it is quite true the first garden in the world 
was lost." 

Long, long ago, when the world was very young, 
God made a garden in the East, a wonderful place 
where thorns and briars never grew, weeds were un- 
known, flowers budded and bloomed every day. 
Fruit hung in rich ripeness on the branches, birds 
sang and the bees hummed in the eternal sunshine. 
The smile of God hung over that garden of bliss. 

For centuries men have been looking backwards 
on that lost garden. 

"So near to the peace of Heaven, 

The hawk might nest with the wren ; 
For there in the cool of the even, 
God walked with the first of men. 
102 



The Garden That Was Lost 108 

"And I dream that these garden closes, 

With their shade and their sun-flecked sod, 
And their lilies and bowers of roses, 
Were laid by the hand of God." 

God was the gardener and angels helped Him. 
Now God always shares His good things with men. 
So He put a man and his wife into this garden. It 
was to be theirs, all their own, except two trees in 
the center. On pain of death they were not to touch 
them. 

But the woman could not keep her eyes away 
from these forbidden trees. She looked so long and 
so often that the man began to look also. When 
away from them, they thought about them. Very 
soon they began to talk about them and wondered 
why God had said : "Thou shalt not touch." 

A spell seemed to hang over the forbidden trees 
and every day they stood under the branches, look- 
ing, thinking and wondering. 

One morning they were gazing at the mysterious 
trees, when they heard a rustling sound among the 
bushes. Turning quickly around, they saw an old 
serpent. His diamond-shaped eyes were cold and 
glittering as he said: "Well! You are looking at 
the best trees in the garden." 

"Yes, we know!" they answered. "But we are 
not to touch them !" 



104 Gardens of Green 

"Who said that?" asked the slimy snake, coiling 
himself up lazily in the sun. 

"God." 

"Do you know why," asked the cunning serpent, 
"He forbade you to touch the best trees in His gar- 
den?" 

"No," they replied, looking about in fear. 

"Because," and the wicked old serpent laughed, 
"you will be as wise as God." 

The man and the woman looked at each other in 
surprise. 

"Do as you like," continued the old snake. "I'm 
telling you the truth." 

He put his head down and went to sleep. 

Next morning the woman rose early, when the 
dew was still on the fruit, plucked some, tasted and 
gave it to her husband. 

"It's good," they cried. 

But very soon they knew they had done wrong 
for they hid from God. God expelled them from 
His garden that night. 

But in the morning they went to the gates and 
found two angels, with flaming swords, barring their 
entrance. The first man and his wife had disobeyed 
God. 

That is how the first and best garden in the world 
was lost. 



XXVIII 

The Garden That Was Found 

'T^HE sons and daughters of the first man and his 
■*• wife who had disobeyed God increased and 
spread over the world. To every child the story 
of the lost garden was told. 

"No one obeys God," the wise men said after 
many years. "Let us search for the garden that 
was lost by disobedience." The world was searched 
for the garden, but no man could find it. 

Then the Greeks on the Isles of Greece said, "Let 
us make a nation. Surely a nation is better than a 
garden, and once more people will obey God." The 
Greeks worked for hundreds of years trying to make 
their country as good as the garden that was lost. 
They failed. 

The old Hebrews said, "We will make a Holy 
City as good as the garden our father lost." Their 
city was the joy of the world for a time. But the 
heart of the citizens craved a garden. They failed 
also. 

In the far East a man named Guatma Buddha 
said, "I know how to get back the lost garden." Men 

105 



106 Gardens of Green 

stopped and listened. "Keep yourselves under/' he 
advised. "Don't look for anything in this world. 
Don't ask for the garden and lo, some day it will 
spring up before your eyes." But he was wrong 
for his land became a desert waste. 

Brave men went over the seas, women wandered 
over the hills and into foreign lands seeking the 
lost garden. It was always in some other place. 

But no one in all the world could find it. 

When the eyes of men were weary with seeking 
God sent His Son down to the Earth to show them 
where to find the garden they had lost by disobedi- 
ence. Men did not recognize the man of Nazareth 
as God's Son. They mocked Him. They laughed 
at Him. 

"How can He show us the way to the lost gar- 
den? He has never been away from home. We 
know his brothers. He and His family have lived 
here all their lives. Such foolishness !" 

However, a few men believed He knew the way 
to the lost garden, but one bad man in His company 
began to doubt. Going to the men who hated Jesus, 
he said, "I'll show you a garden where Jesus goes 
at night, if you will give me some money." 

They paid him the price. He led them to the 
garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was praying. 
Something terrible oppressed our Lord for He cried 
in prayer, "Not my will, but Thine be done." Thus 



The Garden That Was Found 107 

Jesus turned His garden of agony into a garden 
of victory. From under the whispering trees in 
the silent night, with the moon shining, they led Him 
to judgment and death. 

Three days after that some women went to the 
tomb in the garden where Jesus was buried. It was 
early in the morning and they carried spices for the 
body. 

The women and the disciples of Jesus thought 
his death was the end of all their hopes. "Jesus 
is buried in a garden tomb," they said sadly. "We 
will never find the lost garden of God." 

But early in the morning Jesus met them. He 
had changed His garden of death into a garden of 
life. By His obedience, even unto death He recov- 
ered what had been lost by disobedience. 

The garden of the resurrection is the place men 
sought. It's the lost garden found again. 



XXIX 

Brothers All 

"O EVOLUTIONS are dreadful things, but some- 
■*^ times there are bright spots on them. Let me 
tell you a story of the French revolution. In the 
outburst of fury that spread over Paris, beautiful 
pictures and statues were destroyed. Some men burst 
into a picture gallery, where stood a picture of our 
Lord. One of the men was about to destroy it with 
the butt of his rifle. 

"Stop!" cried a comrade, laying his hand on his 
comrade's shoulder. "He — that man told us about 
the brotherhood of man." That deep kinship comes 
through another brotherhood, the brotherhood of 
the believing heart. 

On a moonlight night in the quaint old city of 
Jerusalem when the citizens were all asleep, Jesus 
sat in an upper room surrounded by His twelve 
friends, and in quiet tones he proclaimed the brother- 
hood of man that comes by faith in Him. Then 
to make sure that these men would understand the 
spirit of the fellowship He rose up, took a towel and 
a basin of water, and washed the feet of His disciples 

108 



Brothers All 109 

to show us that the brotherhood of man is the service 
of man. Then to make sure they would not forget 
he said, "As often as ye eat this bread and drink this 
cup" ye do show the Lord's death until He comes 
again. That keeps alive in the memories of men the 
dream of a brotherhood of man. 

Speaking about a brotherhood is rather an easy 
matter, our Lord knew, so He went out and won for 
us a Holy brotherhood by dying on the cross. The 
Saviourhood of Jesus makes the brotherhood of 
man a real fact in the world. To secure it for us He 
rose from the grave. Without the burst open tomb, 
and the stone rolled to the one side, we might be 
wandering and dreaming and walking through the 
world, saying, "Where is this brotherhood of man?" 
But when, we are asked, is the idea of men being 
brothers real ? Will it ever come to pass ? Will all 
men in every land shake hands and be brothers for 
ever? 

We just go back to the first Easter morning and 
say, "He is not here, He is risen," to make the 
brotherhood of man. 



XXX 

What Are the Wild Waves Saying? 

T% ^"OST of you have been down on the beach in 
*•**• the summer time. Do you remember playing 
on the sand and wading in the shallow waves that 
broke in white foam? 
The sea was calm. 

"The whispering waves were half asleep 
And the clouds had gone to play, 
And on the bosom of the deep 
The smile of heaven lay." 

But one night the wind rose ! What a change ! Big 

waves rolled in angry curves. They broke on the 

sand with a crash, and a steady roar. The sea was 

angry and raging in a wild temper. The scudding 

clouds scowled at the restless waters for the storm 

king was riding on the ocean. The mighty ocean 

was talking to us. Hearken ! to what the wild waves 

were saying: "I am the mirror of the world." 

Well! old ocean, you are a big flat mirror lying 

on your back. Sometimes you roll, wriggle and 

twist. Then the folks who sail on your breast lie 

down too and say nasty things about you. But the 

110 



What Are the Wild Waves Saying? Ill 

things that are high and above you are reflected on 
your face. The sun and the flying clouds at sea, 
lighthouses along the shore, hills and trees by day. 
Then the twinkling stars, the flashing glory of the 
meteors, and the moon that makes lanes of quiver- 
ing silver over your smooth face on a still night. 

We can all be sea boys and sea girls reflecting like 
God's ocean the high and holy things of life. 

The wild waves say, "I am powerful. No man 
can tame me. I smash ships, break up the works 
of men, tear pieces out of the land, grind the rocks, 
wash away islands. No man can rule over me, or 
limit my power. I am like God, dreadful in anger 
and wonderful in majestic grandeur." 

The wild waves are saying, "I am the symbol of 
God. My breadth makes men think of the breadth 
of God's love. My vastness is the vastness of heaven. 
My depth is deep as the mercy of God. I circle the 
world as God's arms enfold mankind. I cradle big 
ships in my bosom and sing men to sleep with 
lullabies of wind, as God holds in His arms restless 
men and sings them into slumber by the songs of 
His spirit." 

The wild waves are saying, "I separate the nations 
of men. Men would know each other better but for 
me. I make nations, divide mankind into groups, 
and families; pair off the races of the world into 
east and west. The cleverest men in these two 



112 Gardens of Green 

spheres are laboring to bridge me with spirit mes- 
sages through the air and long ships on the waters. 
The world is trying to say, 'There shall be no more 
sea.' And I laugh !" 

The wild waves are saying, "I clean the world. 
All the waters of the world flow into me. The rivers 
I take into my depths and cleanse. Islands and con- 
tinents I wash with my tides. Climates I make. Sea 
fogs are born on my breast and sweep inland with 
the breeze, moistening the plants and wiping the 
dust from the flowers. I am the cleanser of the 
world. I keep alive the spirit of adventure in the 
world. The Cretes sailed over me first, then the 
Phoenicians, Greeks, Vikings, Portuguese, Spani- 
ards, English and Americans have all launched their 
boats on my broad surface and sailed over my far 
horizon, adventuring and exploring into other worlds 
and unknown islands that I hide behind fogs in the 
north and coral reefs in the south. I am the maker 
of faith in what lies beyond the vision." 

"For the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the 
sea. 



XXXI 

Enoch the Pioneer 

T N the book of beginnings, that is, the first book 
**■ in the Bible, Genesis, we can read all about the 
beginnings of the heavens and the earth, plants, the 
animals and men. 

Genesis is the story of new things, new creations, 
new births, new ways of life, and new Covenants. 

We are introduced to a host of people with strange 
names and odd ways. 

Let me introduce you to Enoch, after the manner 
of "Alice in Wonderland.' ' 

"Boys and girls, Enoch." 

"Enoch, boys and girls." 

Across the centuries you have bowed to each other. 
Now let me tell you the story of Enoch. 

He was one of the pioneers of the world. He 

made a great beginning. Rather Enoch discovered 

that he could talk with God. In the speech of our 

churches and homes that he could pray. Nobody 

knows the birthday of this wonderful man, nor his 

birthplace, nor his father and mother. 

How he made the discovery I don't know, but it 

113 



114 Gardens of Green 

was a great event, when men "began to call upon 
the name of Jehovah," and Enoch showed us the 
way. 

Religion begins for us when we say our prayers. 

"Now I lay me down to sleep, 
I pray Thee Lord my soul to keep." 

Religion and prayer are like twins, born on the 
same day. Did you know that people who have 
never heard about God, I mean the heathen, pray 
in their own way ? 

Across the seas in India, away up in the high 
mountains, the poor Buddhists, a people you will 
read about when you grow older, have a strange way 
of praying. They write a prayer and put it on a 
windmill and the wind whirls their prayer round 
and round. In their ignorance they think God hears 
that sort of praying. Poor people — they pray by 
machinery, all because nobody has told them how to 
pray. 

The Turks cry, "Allah! Allah!" three times a day, 
and kneeling on the floor, bend over until their fore- 
heads touch the ground. 

Did you know that up in Alaska the Indians have 
long totem-poles, a sort of prayer pole, they put in 
front of their houses ? Pray they must and that 
is the best they can do. 

Even the Chinese laundrymen pray to their Gods. 



Enoch the Pioneer 115 

(Joss, I believe, is the name of the God they pray 
to.) And some of them pray to their dead grand- 
fathers. 

Everywhere, in every way, sometimes in such a 
stupid way, oftentimes in pain, and poverty, in glad- 
ness and in health men pray. And Enoch was the 
first man that we know about who lifted his eyes 
to God in prayer. 

What a wonderful thing is prayer! 

It is like a sea over which men venture. It is like 
a ladder reaching upwards to the sky. It is like^ a 
battle where we win victories. It is a power by 
which we touch the hand of God. It is conversation 
with God. It is communion with God. It is the 
putting of God's greatness into our littleness. It 
is the linking of our lives on earth with the life of 
God in heaven. It is a child talking with its Father 
in Heaven. 

Such was the wonderful discovery Enoch, the old 
world man, made. A poor, frail man with nothing 
romantic or clever about him. He was the first 
of all the human race to bow his head and say, "Oh, 
God, my God. Hear my prayer." 

Now come very close to me and listen attentively. 
"Have you no great forefathers, or high folks in 
your family line?" 

Call upon God in humble prayer and you shall 
be a son, a daughter, a descendant of Enoch. 



116 Gardens of Green 

"Have you nothing very particular to do in the 
world?" 

Pray then. It's the greatest work in the world. 
Be co-workers with Enoch. 

"Are you all alone?" 

Get in the great company of those praying in 
adoration and petition to God. 

"Are you wondering what you will do in the 
future?" 

Be a man or woman of prayer. It's a great voca- 
tion. 

Now I think you see how important prayer is in 
life. And I am sure you are glad I introduced you 
to the man whose "name was Enoch," for "then men 
began to call upon the name of Jehovah." 

Let us all join the household of Enoch, and let 
us pray. 



XXXII 

"Who Is High and Near?" 

T_T ERE is a riddle ! Who is high and near ? 
*■ One beautiful day in summer when the sun 

was shining in the blue sky there were no clouds in 
sight. The hills were brown and ribbed like the 
worn teeth of an old lion. All over the fields the 
green grass waved like the sea, trees nodded in the 
wind and spoke to one another in the speech of 
the woods. 

"How high the heavens are/' said an old man, 
standing on a hill slope and looking at the sky. 
"Higher than my reach," he continued, stretching 
his arms upward. 

"What can be higher than the heavens?" asked 
the ancient one, gazing up, his eyes puckered, his 
brows knit. "Higher! higher than the heavens!" 
he muttered. "If I speak they cannot hear. If I 
call they will not answer. If I travel to the end of 
day they will be over me, when night comes and 
the stars shine like candles they tell me the heavens 
are high and distant. Who is higher than the 
heavens?" 

117 



118 Gardens of Green 

He stood still and looked into the blue space above 
him, lost in wonder, silent in awe. Then he sat 
down on the green grass, and plucking a buttercup, 
looked closely into its yellow cup-like leaves, saying 
half aloud, "Who is nearer to me than this flower? 
Speaking and yet silent, beautiful yet unseen. Who 
is nearer to me? Who is in me and around me? 
Behind and in front of me ! Over me and under me, 
touching me and I cannot see Him, leaving me 
always and returning, following me like a shadow 
and finding me with His eye. Filling me and empty- 
ing me. If I speak He hears, call He answers. If I 
rise up to the heavens He is there. Go to the end 
of the world I find Him. Descend into the depths 
of the earth and He finds me. 

"Who is high and near?" 

Who is able to make the sky blue as the sea in 
daytime, purple and dark at night, and sprinkled 
with stars like the daisies in the meadows. Who can 
make this flower delicate, yellow, shapely and num- 
berless as the sands on the beach? Who? Who? 
Who, but God? 

"Look how high the heavens are in comparison 
to the earth." 

"Nearer is He to us than our right hand." 



XXXIII 

Guarding the Treasure 

A KING named Thossakin lived on the island 
of Ceylon. He had a remarkable gift, be- 
stowed by the gods. He could take his heart out 
whenever he wanted to and put it back in again with- 
out hurting himself. That made him a dangerous 
man in a fight because he could leave his heart at 
home when he went to war. 

Thossakin went to war with Rama, another King 
nearby. Naturally he wanted to leave his heart in 
a safe place so he took this wonderful organ out, 
put it in a box and traveled into the forest where an 
old hermit lived all alone, and gave it to him for 
safe keeping. Then the king went out to battle 
against Rama. 

But try as he would, Rama could not kill Thossa- 
kin. In despair Rama consulted a friend. "My 
arrows hit and pierce Thossakin and yet they do 
him no harm," he complained. 

His friend was a magician, and by magic he found 

out where the heart was hidden. Changing himself 

119 



120 Gardens of Green 

into the form of the king, he went to the hermit's 
cave and asked for the box with the heart. 

Without suspicion, the simple old hermit handed 
him the box. The magician crushed it in his hands 
and King Thossakin fell dead. 

There you have the story as I read it, and it con- 
tains a great big truth, that the heart is the chief 
thing in life. 

"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it 
are the issues of life,'' advised the wise man of olden 
days. 

"It's the heart that makes us right or wrong," 
said Robbie Burns, the Scottish poet. And whoever 
holds the key to it holds the key to life. "Where 
your heart is there will your treasure be also." 

It's the winning of the heart that wins the life. 
A surrendered heart means a surrendered life. A 
loving heart is just another way of saying the life 
is one of love. 

Now let this idea find a home in your minds: 
No man can keep his own heart. It's deceitful and 
dreadfully wicked above all things, the Bible says 
it is, and no man governs it. But the great gift of 
God is a new heart, one of purity that we may see 
God. A meek and lowly heart that we may be like 
Christ. 

Lest we lose our hearts on unworthy objects, lest 
we let the enemy steal our hearts, lest we worry over 



Guarding the Treasure 121 

the shielding of this priceless treasure, lest by the 
magic of sin our hearts get crushed, we should give 
them to Christ. He is the redeemer of hearts, the 
guardian of the hearts committed unto Him. 

Then the "peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing shall keep your hearts and minds through 
Jesus Christ.' ' 



XXXIV 

Clean Teeth 

T N the land of Syria I read about the ways of the 
people with their teeth. They have remarkably 
beautiful teeth. Toothache is rare. Now, please 
do not make up your minds to emigrate; for the 
absence of toothache is confined to the poor in the 
villages and is common enough among the rich f ottcs 
in the towns. 

A strange land indeed, where you get toothache 
if you are rich and none if you are poor. Well ! I 
suppose those who are neither rich nor poor are 
best off in Syria ; toothache will be a very rare event. 

The reason for the excellent teeth of the poor 
farmers lies in their simple diet of fruit and vege- 
tables, open-air life and — and — no candies. At least 
they are scarce; sugar is made from the grapes. 

Here is a lesson in health and teeth. 

The Near East peasants wash and clean their 
mouth after each meal. 

In the wealthy homes, after the dinner is over, 

servants bring a cup of water, a bowl and napkins 

122 



Clean Teeth 123 

and instead of washing their fingers, they wash their 
mouths. 

Now boys and girls, ply your toothbrush, cleanse 
your mouth and let no corrupt communication pro- 
ceed out of your mouth. Such is the way to good 
health. 

Here is a lesson about beautiful teeth. 

Did you know that among the Hebrews well-pre- 
served teeth were always reckoned a great mark of 
beauty. 

We read in the Bridal Song in the Bible : 

"Thy teeth are like a row of the shorn ones, 
That have come up from the washing; 
For all of them are forming twins, 
And a bereaved one is not among them/' 

Keep thy teeth beautiful! 

Here is a lesson in teeth-washing. 

I read again in the Bridal Song: 

"Thy teeth are like a row of the lambs, 
That have come up from the washing." 

Some children, ahem ! — foreigners come up crying 
and grumbling from the washing of teeth. But 
we don't ! Never ! 

Here is a lesson in judgment and sharp teeth. 

In the days of Joel, the prophet, when men forgot 
God. He warned them : "The plague will come." 
So it did. Myriads of hungry locusts swept down on 



124 Gardens of Green 

the land with a noise like whirring winds and fall- 
ing hail. These hungry little pests had little saw- 
like teeth, sharp enough to eat into the bark of the 
fig, the orange and the pomegranate trees. They 
devoured everything eatable and made the fruitful 
land a barren waste with their sharp teeth. 

Then men began to cry out : "Where is God?" 

Here is a lesson about sin and the teeth. 

Once I heard a missionary from India say that 
the natives in her province came to her, wailing and 
in sorrow. "We are hungry," they said. "How 
is it we have no bread?" 

She took her Bible and read of the judgment de- 
nounced on the kingdom of Israel for their idolatry 
at Bethel and Gilgal : 

"I have given you cleanness of teeth, 
In all your cities; 
And lack of bread, 
In all your places." 

"Your sins have brought cleanness of teeth upon 
you," said the missionary. "Forsake your idols and 
turn to God !" 

Here endeth the lessons on the teeth ! 



XXXV 
Wake Up! Rally! 

(Rally Day) 

CO this is Rally day! 

Let me begin by telling you a story of the 
war. 

A colored regiment was in the front line over 
there in France. Sentries were posted with strict 
orders to call the officers when the klax horns were 
sounded, warning the regiment of the approach of 
gas. 

"Now remember," said the officer to a big Ala- 
bama negro, "call the colonel when the horns begin 
to blow." 

"Yes, sah, ah'l remember," answered the sentry. 

About two in the morning the horns sounded and 
the negro in great excitement rushed to the Colonel's 
billet and cried : "Wake up, Colonel ! Wake up ! 
Mah goodness! the Germans are comin' in automo- 
biles." 

Well ! Thank God the war is over ! The Germans 

125 



126 Gardens of Green 

are not coming in ships, unless to do business, to our 
shores. But the W. F. D. is coming. 

"What's that?" did you ask. 

First the W. stands for the world that is opposed 
to God and the church. It is coming on us. All 
the forces of the world's power come stealing in on 
us day and night. 

"What is that you are bringing to the child?" 
asked the mother of a smiling angel. 

"Flattery in a golden goblet !" 

"Go!" answered the brave mother. "My child 
will never drink your dangerous wine." 

"What have you hidden under your cloak?" asked 
the mother next day as the angel came back dressed 
in a long robe. 

"Fame to bind on her golden hair," answered the 

angel. 

"Go!" ordered the mother. "My child can live 
without your ribbons of fame." 

The third day the angel came rolling up to the 
door in a golden chariot. She got down and rang 

the bell. 

"What have you brought to-day?" asked the 
mother holding the door with her hand. 

"Ease," answered the angel. "She can ride all 
the days of her life in my chariot." 

"Go !" ordered the mother. "Leave my door. My 



Wake Up! Rally! 127 

child must work all her days, not for fame or flat- 
tery. God made her to work." 

Rally! For the night cometh when no man can 
work. 

We must wake up ! 

F., that is the "flesh," the lower part of us that 
might pull us down. 

"Who is he but a brute 
Whose flesh hath soul to suit." 

Who wants to be fleshy like the beasts that fatten 
in the fields ? 

"For pleasant is the flesh 
Our soul, in its rose mesh 
Pulled ever to the earth, still yearns for rest." 

Wake up ! Rally so that at the end of the year we 
can say: 

"Spite of this flesh to-day 
I strove, made head, gained ground upon the whole." 

Wake up ! For D. Hush ! he is coming ! 

D. stands for the Devil, the evil person who 
tempts us. He comes in all kinds of dresses, dis- 
guised as a friend, speaking softly in our ears. 
Hush! he is not a nice person to speak about, yet 
he is very real. 

Wake up! Rally! 

Rally means "get together." 



128 Gardens of Green 

A sergeant was drilling his soldiers getting them 
ready for the war, bayonets drawn and rifles loaded. 
After firing several rounds came the command, 
"advance." At a bound they were "over the top" 
and off, heads down; they ran very slowly and to- 
gether. A breathless man outran his comrades. The 
drill sergeant shouted to the men, "Keep together, 
keep together, men, one man can't take a trench." 

How truly he spoke. One man cannot officer a 
Sunday School himself. It takes all the teachers, 
all the scholars, all the Sundays in all the year. Aye ! 
and nights thrown in to make it a vital institution. 

One church cannot save a community. It takes 
all the churches, working all together, all the time. 
Again it needs all the churches to save the whole 
world. The millions of India, China, Japan and 
Africa demand all our energies. 

During the Indian mutiny, the seventy-ninth regi- 
ment came to a bridge. The Sepoys had their guns 
trained on it and it had to be captured. The Colonel 
drew the soldiers up in line and addressed them. 

"Are you ready, Seventy-ninth?" 

"Ready Set." 

"Are you ready, Seventy-ninth?" 

"Ready Set." 

"Are you ready, Seventy-ninth?" 

"Ready, Aye, ready set!" 

"Then charge," cried the Colonel. 



Wake Up! Rally! 129 

"Christian, dost thou see them, 

On the Holy ground. 
How the powers of darkness 

Rage thy steps around? 
Christian, up and smite them, 

Counting gain but loss, 
In the strength that cometh 

By the Holy Cross." 



"Are you ready?" 
"Wake up! Rally!" 



XXXVI 

Joshua the Scoutmaster of Israel 

TN a high place in the Kentucky mountains, there's 
a monument to one of the Joshuas of America, 
Daniel Boone. Joshua was the Daniel Boone of 
Israel; he went ahead and viewed the new land. 

Moses led them to the doors of Israel's West, but 
had to leave the people he had brought out of Egypt. 
He called a gathering at a place called Sheckem lying 
in a beautiful plain. A wonderful spot it was! 

For centuries before Abraham had got a promise 
there that the land where his camp was situated 
would belong to his descendants. Over yonder un- 
der that oak tree, Jacob pledged himself and his 
family to the Lord and dug a well in a town called 
Sychar. Later Joseph's bones were laid there too. 

A fitting place for the pledging of a nation's 
faith ! Such was the spot where the old leader and 
lawgiver, Moses, gave his work over to Israel's new 
scout, Joshua. 

Joshua had all the qualities of a good scout. He 

had a camera eye for locations. He could shut his 

eyes and see in vision the rolling mountains sloping 

130 



Joshua the Scoutmaster of Israel 131 

down to the plains. What would lie beyond the bend 
of a river ? Nobody in all Israel, or even in America, 
had Joshua's gift for picking out a camp site. Is- 
raelites trusted in his judgment. If he had lived in 
our day, he would have surely headed the great boy 
scout movement. Moreover, Joshua, the scoutmas- 
ter, had faith in men. Faith breeds faith. He made 
his followers feel equal to any task. 

A Wellesley college student said of Mrs. Alice 
Freeman Palmer: "She had a strange effect on me. 
When I saw her, I felt as if I could do things that 
1 had never dreamed before." 

Joshua just created a kindred faith in his fol- 
lowers. 

"Though of ourselves all poor are we, 
And frail and weak of wing, 
Your height is ours — your ecstasy 
Your glory, when you sing." 

Joshua had faith in God. "Without faith it is 
impossible to please God." And old scout Joshua 
was well pleasing in God's sight. 

Do we love and trust the people who have no faith 
in us? Certainly not. Our inner life contracts and 
hardens when we lose faith in our Heavenly Father. 

Joshua had a great commanding faith in his God, 
that gave him steadiness, inward quietness, loving 
trust in his followers and great lion-like courage. 

At the front in France, the soldiers rated courage 



132 Gardens of Green 

as the highest virtue. I am inclined to think they 
were right. But there is no end to the different 
varieties of courage. Most of us are cowards about 
some things, although brave in nearly everything 
else. 

I wonder if there is a "courage of the coward ?" 
I think so. Certainly there is a noble courage in 
being meek, silent, patient and faithful. So there is 
a courage in energy, standing up for the right, in 
daring to be our ownselves, to have opinions and ex- 
press them. 

R. L. Stevenson, that great friend of boys says: 
"To know what you prefer, instead of humbly say- 
ing Amen to what the world tells you you ought to 
prefer, is to have kept your soul alive." 

Courage is needed to keep our souls alive. Minor- 
ity courage is the moral bravery of leaders. Joshua, 
the scout, had it in good measure. 

On, Joshua, on! 

"Be strong and of good courage, be not affrighted, 
neither be thou dismayed. The Lord, thy God is 
with thee whithersoever thou goest." 

On, Joshua, on! 



XXXVII 

The King and the Covenant 

ONG, long ago when old Jerusalem was the 
*^ home of kings Josiah was born. He was only 
eight years old when the crown was placed on his 
little head. He said to himself, "I will seek God 
with all my heart." And because he did so the Lord 
God of Israel made his heart tender, his spirit hum- 
ble. At a certain time in his life, after the lost book 
of laws was found he stood up in his place in Jeru- 
salem and made a covenant with God Jehovah ; that 
is, a bargain, an agreement, what a business man 
would call a contract. A wonderful covenant ! 

Here it is : 

"And the king stood in his place and made a 
covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, 
and to keep His commandments and His testimonies 
with all his heart and with all his soul and to per- 
form the words of the covenant which are written 
in His book." 

The king agreed to walk after Jehovah God. 

Truly a great task ! God was to lead and Josiah was 

to trail behind. Where the Lord went, like a shadow 

133 



134 Gardens of Green 

Josiah was to be near. If the king drove in his 
chariot through the narrow streets of Jerusalem 
Josiah was to feel certain that God was driving in 
his chariot with him. Whatever the Lord of heaven 
showed him the king was to do. He walked, a king 
with the King of kings and because he walked with 
God Josiah was shown many wonderful things in 
his life. 

When Professor Agassiz of Harvard University 
took his students out in the country for a walk to 
show them the wonders of the rocks, the trees and 
the woods, "Stay with the Professor," older students 
would advise the freshmen, "stay with him, he will 
show you something beautiful every minute. Stay 
by, don't wander away." That's what Josiah did. 
He stayed with God, walked with him, and the Lord 
showed him the beauty of His character. To keep 
His commandments and his testimonies and His 
statutes with all his heart was the second part of the 
covenant. Truly another great undertaking! 

No mere man has ever been able to do that. But 
when Jesus was down here in our world He taught 
one great commandment, which He gave us to learn, 
to recite and practice. It is all the commandments 
summed up in one. Rather, it is two command- 
ments. But if we do the first, the second will be 
fulfilled. 

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 



The King and the Covenant 135 

heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is 
the first and the great commandment, and the second 
is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self. On these two commandments hang all the law 
and the prophets." 

And to ''perform the words of the covenant." 
Now it was possible to carry out the first two 
parts of the covenant and neglect the third. "To let 
the deeds prove" which Josiah did, made him a king 
among men, and a man among kings. 

In arithmetic we prove our problems. Life and 
arithmetic are very much alike. We work out the 
problems by the rules and prove by the results. If 
the rules of life are wrong then the results will be 
wrong. Josiah had the correct rules of life: walk- 
ing with God, and keeping his commandments. His 
creed, that is, the thing he believed, he put into deeds. 
He let the deeds prove his faith in Jehovah God. 
Then Josiah took the wicked things away from his 
people, idols and cruel altars and taught his people 
God's law, and ways, with the result that "all his 
days they departed not from following Jehovah, the 
God of their fathers. 



XXXVIII 

Why Does God Live? 

TN the days when Calvary women with pity in 
their hearts, and Red Crosses on their arms, 
went over the seas to old Bagdad to feed the hungry 
East, and tend the little babes, their fame spread out 
to the desert. And three wise men went to the city 
to see them. 

They saw pale women with swift feet, and soft 
hands, brightening homes of woe and hunger that 
followed the war. They wondered at the love of 
these women and one day they asked, "Why does 
God live in a world so wicked and hungry?" 

One of the women from the West smiled and her 
eyes melted with pity at their question. "Men of 
wisdom, I do not know," she answered gently. As 
the old wisdom men walked back to their tents in 
the desert the new moon, like a silver buckle on a 
black robe, was shining among the near stars. 

"The maid with the English speech and the voice 

like a cooing dove cannot tell us why God lives here," 

observed the chief of the wise magicians. 

136 



Why Does God Live? 137 

"Some things are hidden from the woman's eyes," 
replied the second magician. 

"By seeking men find out," said the third magi- 
cian. 

"Let us search then for the reason why God liyes 
in the world," said the first of the wise men. 

So they walked towards the sea and asked an 
ancient sailor, "Why does God live?" 

"I think," and he looked out to the ocean as he 
answered, "to protect poor sailors. For those who 
cannot pray should not go down to the sea in a ship. 
But ask the soldiers, they may know better than I 
do." 

Soldier lads were marching past, home from the 
wars. "Soldier, why does God live?" one of the 
three ventured to address their leader. 

"Aha! old man," he answered boldly, "why? To 
help soldiers to fight. On, men, on!" 

"God is a God of peace," said the wisest of three 
wisemen. "I — I — am sure that is not the reason." 

"Let us ask the rulers !" 

The great man of affairs busy with statecraft 
looked strangely at his questioners. "To keep the 
rich and the poor in their places." He laughed as 
he said the words, "But I never heard any one before 
ask why God lives." 

They traveled to the market place where the noise 
of bargaining was louder than meeting waters. At 



138 Gardens of Green 

the door of a merchant's house they knocked and 
entered. "Oh, trader, tell us why does God live in 
the world?" 

The merchant looked surprised and angry as he 
answered, "Tush! Such nonsense; I am busy. Go 
away ! That's not a practical question." 

They left the markets and journeyed to the Cathe- 
dral Square and bowing low at the door, entered the 
church. A great organ was sounding out music 
like the wind in the forest. White robed choir boys 
at the altar were making melody with their fresh 
voices, for it was the hour of Evening Song. The 
angels looked down from their windows of colored 
glass, at the faded robes and worn sandals of the 
three wise men. "Why does God live in the world?" 
asked the first of the patriarchs, bending down over 
a worshiper. 

"I know where He lives, but why, I do not know," 
and he went on with his prayers. 

"Let us ask the maiden with the downcast eyes. 
She looks like the mother of God. He may have 
told her His secrets," whispered the second wiseman 
to the third. Bending over her, he whispered his 
question in her ear. The maiden smiled, shook 
her head and said : 

"He visits His house, and I meet Him here — but 
why He lives I do not know." 

Leaving the House of God, they went to the Inn 



Why Does God Live? 139 

to sleep. In the morning they asked the keeper of 
the Inn if he knew why God lived in the world. 

"Friends!" replied the Innkeeper, "long ago His 
Son was born in a stable because there was no room 
in the Inn. If He comes to my house knocking at 
night I will put the guests in the stable and give Him 
the keys of the doors. Why He lives on in the 
world, why His mother was allowed to sleep in a 
stable beside the kine, puzzles me. Come with me." 
He led them to the door. 

"Yonder are the Law Courts. The lawmen may 
answer your question. Good-by." 

With fear in their hearts and trembling lips the 
wisemen of the East entered the grim portals of the 
Law Courts, and addressed a man of law. 

"To administer justice, of course," answered the 
lawyer and he walked to the Bench. 

"Who can stand before His justice?" asked the 
wisest of the wisemen. 

"But he that hath clean hands and a pure heart," 
answered the youngest. 

"Brethren!" said the second of the men from the 
East, "let us seek the pure hearted and the clean- 
handed. The secret of God is with them." 

So they walked out into the country where the 
apple blossoms, pink and white, were blowing over 
the brown roads and the birds in the hedges were 
piping carols of praise to God. A little girl came 



140 Gardens of Green 

skipping down the path from a cottage, swinging 
her school books. 

"Deep things are hidden from the wise and the 
great, and revealed to the children. Let us ask the 
child." 

"Little child," asked the first of the wisemen, 
"can you tell us why God lives in the world?" 

She laughed and said, "Oh ! that's easy. To give 
light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow 
of death, and to guide our feet into the way of 
peace." 



XXXIX 
A Garden of Nuts 

SAW three boys under a tree. One had his cap 
■*• full of nuts, the second boy had his pockets and 
a bandanna handkerchief rilled with them. And the 
third boy had his coat off. His elbow peeped out of 
his left shirt sleeve through a good sized hole and 
the button was off the cuff band of his right sleeve. 
It flapped every time he threw a club into the tree to 
bring down nuts. Farther down the lane under the 
scarlet maples, their feet rustling on a yellow carpet 
of leaves, some girls were laughing. Their gingham 
aprons were full of brown hickory nuts. It was 
October, the month of nuts. 

Let us have a talk about nuts. 

Now there are three things about nuts : the husk, 
the shell, and the kernel. And there are three things 
about boys and girls; their manners, their shell of 
reserve, into which they sometimes crawl for de- 
fense, and their hearts, which God and mothers only 
know. 

Some folks are like the husk of the nuts, rough, 

ragged and rude in speech. 

141 



142 Gardens of Green 

"He's rough on the outside," you have heard it 
said, "but he's gentle inside." 

True! Bad manners conceal sometimes a fine 
character. Watch your manners. 

Henry the Eighth was described as "lofty and 
sour to them that loved him not; but to those men 
that sought him, sweet as summer." 

Watch your manners! 

"Men's evil manners live in brass ! Their virtues 
we write in water." 

Watch your manners ! 

The shell of the nut I have said is a defense, a sort 
of armor that must be pierced to get into the heart. 
It's a good thing, boys and girls, to have your inner 
life fenced off. 

"A common life" is simply a life without reserves, 
into which every person who cares to walk, can enter. 
Guard your inner life from the evil attacks of the 
enemy. Be careful about letting any one and every 
one into your secret life. Always keep some spot 
where no one enters but God and your mother. 

The kernel is the heart. Have you heard any one 
say, "sound and sweet as a nut?" 

There now, that's a heart worth getting and keep- 
ing. "Sound and sweet as a nut." 

"A sound heart is the life of the flesh." 

Let me tell you a secret. Some people, grown-ups 
I mean, are sound but not sweet. To be "sound in 



A Garden of Nuts 143 

the faith" is great. To "hold fast the form of sound 
words" is noble. But, to be "sound and sweet as a 
nut" in the heart is a worthy October aim. 

Once I saw a Scotch boy take a nut, and shake it. 
Then he shook his towsy head and looked serious. 
He shook the nut again and put it in his mouth. 
Crash through the shell went his back teeth, and he 
let the broken nut drop into his open palm. 

"Ugh!" he exclaimed in disgust, "it was bosh 
(empty)." The kernel was withered, dry and dead. 

It's a terrible thing to have an empty heart. It's 
the unsafest and the unholiest thing in the world." 

Here is a splendid October prayer. 

"Let my heart be sound in thy statutes." 



XL 

The Ribband of Blue 

^\URING the great war, an American was stand- 
^^^ ing on a hill overlooking a brown valley. It 
was covered with khaki-clad soldiers, waiting for 
orders. Suddenly the whole army moved into two 
separate columns, and from the far side of the valley 
French troops appeared. They marched up the cen- 
ter of the space made by the soldiers. And as they 
tramped along the sun burst out from behind the 
clouds. It shone fairly on the moving line and 
quivered over the heads of the French infantry in 
their blue uniforms. 

"They appeared like a ribband of blue in a field 
of brown," the man who saw it declared. If that 
American knew his Bible, and why should he not 
know the book of the church? he might have re- 
membered the Bible phrase in the book of Numbers 
where it speaks of a "ribband of blue." 

Blue is a heavenly color. The priests wore it on 
the borders of their garments and it had a sacred 

meaning. The children of Israel were to look on the 

144 



The Ribband of Blue 145 

ribband of blue and remember God had called them 
into obedience. 

In the skies above their heads and on the great 
sea beyond the mountains everything was a delicate 
blue color. Even in the fields God had planted blue 
flowers. At the feet of the Hebrews they were 
mere specks and beyond and around them spread 
infinite spaces of blue. 

God wants obedience first. As children, servants, 
messengers and soldiers we must obey. 

All the heroes of faith in the Bible were men of 
obedience. Abraham obeyed God and became a wan- 
derer. Jacob by suffering learned to obey. Moses 
hearkened unto God, did as He commanded him and 
led a nation into a new land. Joshua obeyed and 
took the Israelites across Jordan. David obeyed 
God and became king of Israel. Gideon obeyed a 
messenger from heaven and freed his timid coun- 
trymen. Daniel obeyed God rather than a king and 
the Lord delivered him out of the lion's mouth. 

Jesus was obedient even unto the death of the 
cross "wherefore God hath exalted Him." 

The Apostles obeyed Christ and became "fishers 
of men." Paul conferred not with flesh and blood 
but was obedient to the heavenly vision. 

The Ribbands of blue and the examples of the 
men in the Bible urge us to obedience. Then we are 
to obey our parents, and our homes will be havens 



146 Gardens of Green 

of peace, the birthplace of high resolves, pure 
thoughts, and of the faith of our fathers. 

Our teachers are to be obeyed, if we are to become 
good students. Schools are training places for life. 
For if we do not obey our teachers how can we obey 
the laws of our country? 

Who would want to live in America if nobody 
obeyed the laws ? Would it be the land of the free, 
and the home of the brave? Never. Good citizens 
and good Americans are simply men who are obedi- 
ent to the laws of their country. 

The Ribband of blue God commanded Moses to 
put on the borders of his people's garments because 
He wanted them to see with their own eyes and re- 
member to do the commandments of the Lord, 
throughout their generation. "They put upon the 
fringe of borders a Ribband of blue." 



XLI 

Remember Now! 

/^\NCE upon a time a rich man had a great harvest. 
^^ Grapes hung in luscious clusters on the vines, 
corn waved in the fields, cattle grazed on the mead- 
ows and sheep grew fat on the hill sides. 

He built bigger barns, enlarged his wine presses, 
added to his cattle sheds and grew very wealthy. 
Then a strange thing happened in the inside of the 
rich man. He grew poorer and poorer. His soul 
became smaller and smaller. He remembered only 
the grapes, the corn and the cattle and completely 
forgot God. He was in God's world, using all the 
gifts God gave him, enjoying the riches God's hand 
showered on him every day, but he completely forgot 
the Giver in heaven. He saw the gifts but failed to 
see the hand that sent them. The man was clever 
and not bad at all. Oh no, only he forgot God, who 
sends all that we have and that : 

"Back of the loaf is the snowy flour, 
And back of the flour the mill, 
And back of the mill, the wheat and the shower 
Are the sun and the Father's will." 

147 



148 Gardens of Green 

About three hundred years ago a young man went 
to a University to study law. He possessed consid- 
erable talent and had bright hopes for the future. 

One day he called on an old man who had fame 
as one of the teachers of the University and told him 
he had come to see him because of his great wisdom. 

"I intend to spare no pains, nor time, nor money 
to get through the studies," said the young student. 

"Well! Then after that what do you mean to 
do?" asked the wise man. 

"Oh ! I shall take my degree." 

"What then?" questioned the old man. 

"I shall work for a reputation." 

"And what then?" asked the old man. 

"And then," replied the young man, "I shall get 
promoted to some high office in law." 

"And then," continued the wiseman. 

"I shall be settled in wealth and dignity." 

"And then," asked the old man. 

"And then, eh, and then " 

"Remember now thy Creator 
In the days of thy youth — " 

That is all God asks. 



XLII 

The Man Who Found a Kingdom 

OOK for it until you find it," I heard a mother 
*~* tell her boy. 

"Where it was lost, there you'll find it," another 
mother advised. His hat was lost. He searched and 
found not what he expected, but an old bat, a ball 
and his sister's doll, "old Mollie." She was a wooden 
lady without a foot, one ear off, and her hair tacked 
on with carpet tacks. The paint on her left cheek 
was all kissed away. The last survivor of a family 
of china, rubber, wax and celluloid dolls! Alas for 
the dolls that are no more ! 

Seeking things is a great adventure. Who knows 
what you will find? Besides it saves mother's steps 
and her strength and time. If mothers were paid a 
dollar an hour for finding the things their children 
have lost they would all be rich. 

Children should begin early and cultivate the habit 
of seeking, for it has happened, oh, so often, that the 
small discoveries have in the end been of greatest 
worth. This world has been enriched by her seekers. 
Be a seeker. 

149 



150 Gardens of Green 

Columbus sailed west, searching a way to Cathay. 
He discovered America. No one in all the ship's 
company was looking for potatoes, yet the potato 
vine was there, waiting for some one to find it on the 
American continent. Of more value than all the 
gold mines of America is the potato plant. Colum- 
bus was looking for a new way to the East and he 
found our land, and a new food plant for the worjd. 
What would the English speaking races do without 
the potato plant ? Well ! we feel confident the Irish 
might have died off. Life would be very tame with- 
out the dear Irish. 

Long years ago in the days when kings wore 
crowns and all their subjects were learning the alpha- 
bet of life, a mighty man named Kish lived in the 
hills. He had tall, strong sons, men of goodly fig- 
ures and strength of arm. He kept a number of 
asses too, wild shaggy animals. It's the nature of 
them, I suppose, to wander away from their pastures. 
Maybe that is the reason why they are called "stupid 
asses." Kish, the hillsman, said to his big son Saul, 
"Take one servant with thee and arise, go seek the 
asses." 

Saul had no thought of anything beyond obeying 
his father. He was an obedient, dutiful son, so Saul 
the stalwart went into a country called Ephraim, on 
through Shaalim and into the land of the Ben jam- 



The Man Who Found a Kingdom 151 

ites. There he grew weary of the search and said to 
his servant, "Come, let us return." 

"No," replied the servant, "there's a man of God 
in the city. Let us ask him about the asses." 

"How can we, we have no present for the man of 
God?" answered Saul. 

"I have a fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will 
give that for the man of God to tell us the way," said 
the servant. 

"Well spoken," replied Saul, "come, let us go." 
They went into the city and met some maidens going 
out to draw water. 

"Is the Seer here?" asked Saul. 

"He is . . . the people have a sacrifice, and they 
will not eat until he blesses it." 

Saul went on into the city and meeting a man said, 
"Where is the house of the Seer?" 

"I am the Seer," he replied, "and thine asses are 
found three days ago." 

The Seer took Saul into his house and gave him 
the guest chamber, and the first place at a banquet. 
Very early the next morning about the spring of the 
day, he took Saul and his servant outside. "Bid your 
servant pass on," commanded the old man. Saul did 
so. Then the Seer with trembling hands took oil and 
poured it on Saul's head, saying, "The Lord hath 
anointed thee to be Prince over Israel." 

Saul did as he was bidden. He went at his fa- 



152 Gardens of Green 

ther's command, seeking the asses. Look how many 
things he found ! 

A man of God, a prophet who talked with the 
living God. The eyes of God run over the world, 
seeking men of truth. God's blessing from the serv- 
ant of the Lord. "The blessing of God maketh rich 
and addeth no sorrow." 

The crown of Israel! Why, Saul was only a 
herdsman, but he received a Kingly crown. 

And a kingdom ! What an adventure for a man 
who went seeking asses ! 

Who would not go a-seeking? But what are we 
to seek? 

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His right- 
eousness and all these things shall be added unto 
you." 



XLIII 
Seven- Story and Basement 

NAME your first plaything." 
"Blocks." 

"Did you build a house with them ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"How many hours have you spent watching the 
masons building houses ?" 

Nobody answers! 

Well! We are all builders. Every day in our 
lives we are building something. Moreover, we are 
buildings of God. Temples, He calls us. 

Boys and girls at school, while busy at lessons, 
are also putting up houses invisible. 

Let me give you a lesson in housebuilding. 

A seven-story and basement dwelling. An im- 
mortal fabric, fireproof, burglar-proof, robbers can- 
not enter, thieves cannot break in, no man can de- 
stroy it. God inhabited, and no man can take away 
this wonderful temple. 

First the foundation: faith in Christ. 

"Other foundations can no man lay than that 

which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." He is the rock 

153 



154 Gardens of Green 

of ages, the granite of truth. The house built on 
Christ will never sink, be blown away, or collapse 
because the foundation is able to bear the weight. 

Houses are like men and women, no stronger than 
their foundations. Beware how you build. Found 
your house of character on the Rock of Ages, Jesus 
Christ. 

The first story is built of virtue. 

The dictionary says a virtuous person is one pos- 
sessed of moral strength, an honest man. Robert 
Burns, the Scottish poet said : 

"An honest man's 
The noblest work of God." 

Another meaning for virtue is "right conduct under 
discipline." Just plain good habits. For if we lack 
the riches of good ways all the smoke of passionate 
desire and vapory feelings will rise into the other 
stories in the building and spoil the house. Who 
would live in a smoky house? 

The second story is knowledge. 

Some folks have zeal, but lack knowledge. Others 
have knowledge but no zeal. But the knowledge a 
man has, who builds in Christ and has good habits, 
is wisdom knowledge. 

What is that ? Oh, simply the power to see clearly 
the difference between right and wrong. 

Once upon a time a business man — I think he was 



Seven-Story and Basement 155 

a citizen of Glasgow, where they have black smoke 
and good government — was hesitating and wonder- 
ing whether his collar was clean enough for another 
day. 

"If it's doubtful, it's dirty," remarked his wise 
wife. Wisdom knowledge enables us to discern the 
clean from the unclean. A doubtful way may be a 
dirty one. Steer clear of the doubtful things and 
you are safe. The pure in heart see God and are 
stronger than lions or men. 

Temperance is the third story. 

The Rechabite family live there. Old grandfather 
Jonadab, one of the grand old men of Israel lives 
with them. He will preserve peace and order all 
through the house. 

"What ! never heard his name ! Go to the Bible, 
thou sluggard." 

Endurance is the fourth story. 

It's a great virtue to be a good stayer. Be a long 
distance runner, for it is they that endure to the end 
that are saved. Many are starters, but few are fin- 
ishers. Keep on climbing. Keep in the game. Be 
in the race at the end of day. 

Godliness is the fifth story. 

"Godliness with contentment is great gain," says 
the Apostle. And to be filled with God is Godliness. 
When the great war was raging a nurse in a London 



156 Gardens of Green 

hospital complained to the Bishop that she had been 
rudely treated by a patient. 

"Well !" said the wise Bishop. "If you are carry- 
ing a cup and some one knocks against you one can 
only spill what is inside." Be filled with Godliness. 

It is hard to always show the gentleness of Christ. 
But if we open the door of the heart God and His 
company of angels will tenant the fifth floor on a 
perpetual lease. 

Brotherly kindness is the sixth story. 

Let that story be very important for if we fail 
there we fail everywhere, and we will never be able 
to build the seventh and last story, love. 

What makes us different? 

Love. 

What crowns us? 

Love. 

What makes us like God ? 

Love. 

What finishes, furnishes and adorns a house ? 

Love. 

"That's a big house," somebody says. 

"Yes, but it's for the Holy Family: the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And it's our great 
honor to be the 'temples of God.' " 



XLIV 

Three Cheers! 

Hip ! Hip ! Hurrah ! 

Z^ 1 HEER up ! Smile ; things are never as bad as 
^-^ they look. Try to be cheerful. Be cheerful. 

Let me impart a secret. God made us and intends 
for us a cheerful life. The Gospel is the story, the 
Bible the book, and the church is the house of good 
cheer. Christians should shed gladness ! 

"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy 
Him forever." 

If we are glorying in God and enjoying Him, we 
will be cheerful. 

"Be glad in the Lord and rejoice." 

" 'Toby Veck, T-o-o-o-by Veck, keep a good heart 
Toe-bee/ ! ' is what the chimes used to say to the lit- 
tle old porter on London's dark and gloomy days, 
as he danced up and down to keep himself warm as 
he waited for a job." 

That was the cheer of the bells. 

Out on the cold Atlantic ocean, in winter, a ship 

was torpedoed. "All hands on deck !" cried the offi- 

157 



158 Gardens of Green 

cers. Sailors, soldiers, wounded and unwounded, 
and passengers stood together as the vessel sank. 
The sailors laughed and sang: " Where do we go 
from here, boys?" as the deck tilted and the ship 
sagged under the pressure of the ocean. Then as 
they sank, they cheered for the flag. 

That was the cheer of heroism. 

"Above all things, try and be cheerful," said the 
medical officer of New York City, when an epidemic 
was raging. "A merry heart doeth good like medi- 
cine !" To be cheerful and unafraid when sickness 
reigns is better than carbolics and peroxides. Aye ! 
and cheaper too! Cheer is the best antiseptic. 
"Throw physic to the dogs and be cheerful!" 

There is the cheer of good health ! 

Our Lord when down here on earth gave three 
good cheers. 

The first one came about in this way. His friends 
brought a man sick of the palsy. He was lying on 
a bed and our Lord saw the faith of these men. He 
always encouraged faith, so He said: "Son, be of 
good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." 

The second incident happened about half -past 
three in the morning when the Apostles were on the 
Lake Galilee with the wind howling and the waves 
dancing in fury; overhead, black darkness. Those 
poor fishermen were afraid and superstitious. 
"There's something! Look !" one exclaimed. With 



Three Cheers! 159 

hearts beating anxiously they peered through the 
stormy darkness. "Be of good cheer ; it is I, be not 
afraid." 

Jesus gave them the cheer of companionship ! 

The third cheer was under depressing conditions, 
which of course is the time we need the tonic of a 
cheer. The disciples looked glum, sad and worried; 
the Lord was saying farewell to them in the upper 
room. He closed His speech: "Be of good cheer; 
I have overcome the world." 

The cheer of eternal victory. 



XLV 
Buying a Miracle 

/^\NE day George Gissing, about whom you may 
^^ hear some day when you grow up, was going 
along the road in a town in England and he saw a 
poor little lad, perhaps ten years old, crying bitterly. 
He had lost sixpence with which he had been sent to 
pay a debt. "Sixpence dropped by the wayside and 
a whole family made wretched. I put my hand in 
my pocket and wrought sixpennyworth of miracle 1" 

For the small sum of twelve cents in American 
money, he worked a miracle. That was doing good 
at cheap rates ; a bargain day in miracles. 

We can work miracles even without money. 

"John Morel, Mayor of Darlington," a quaint old 
town across the seas, "was passing and met a poor 
unfortunate who had just been released from gaol, 
where he had served three years for embezzlement. 
'Hallo!' said the Mayor in his own cheery tone, 'I'm 
glad to see you ! How are you ?' Little else was said, 
for the man seemed ill at ease. Years afterwards, 
the man met him in another town, and immediately 

160 



Buying a Miracle 161 

said, 'I want to thank you for what you did for me 
when I came out of prison.' 'What did I do?' 'You 
spoke a kind word to me and it changed my life.' " 

Now that beautiful miracle of a changed life was 
done without money and without price. A cheery 
smile and eight little short words in the English 
language and — and — a good heart — Lo! a miracle! 
Buy one to-day. 

One day in summer the doctor stood beside a sick 
boy. His parents and his sister watched the doctor's 
face. "Nothing but a miracle can save him," said 
the doctor and he left the house, feeling deeply sorry. 
The little girl had heard the words of the physician 
and resolved to buy a miracle and save her brother. 
Of course she did not understand the word miracle. 
Without saying anything she went to her room, took 
her savings bank and broke it and went down town. 

She walked timidly into a grocer's store. "I want 
to buy a miracle." 

"What did you say?" 

"I want to buy a miracle. Doctor says nothing 
but a miracle can save my brother." 

The grocer man was troubled and felt sorry, so he 
sent her down to the drug store. 

"I want to buy a miracle," she told the druggist. 

"My dear child, we have no miracles for sale," he 
said with pity in his voice and face. 



162 Gardens of Green 

A gentleman standing near heard the little girl's 
question and stepping over, he asked her why she 
wanted a miracle. 

"My brother is sick. Nothing but a miracle, the 
doctor says, can save him and I want to buy one." 

"Come and show me where you live," said the 
stranger. Together they went to the bedside of the 
boy where he stood for a long time. "It's true, 
nothing but a miracle can save the child. I am a 
surgeon and I'll perform an operation that may save 
him." 

He did and in a few days the little girl with the 
large faith had her brother restored to health again. 
She could not buy a miracle, but she had faith and it 
works miracles. 

"All things are possible to them that believe." 



XL VI 

Who Are the Blind? 

TT 7" HO are the blind, and where do they live? 

* * Instantly some bright girl answers, "Those 

who cannot see, and live in shadow-town." 

Well ! that is one kind of blindness. But we are 
glad so many clever people are trying to help them 
and their condition has been improved so much in 
our generation. However, it is not the sightless I 
want to talk about, for we may have beautiful eyes 
and yet be unable to see. 

The really blind folks are of two kinds. First, 
those who cannot see spiritual things. Second, those 
who have lost their sight by living in the dark. 
Faithless people, that is, those without faith in God, 
goodness and truth are only blind. Imagine a city 
of faithless citizens, everybody groping, fumbling, 
stumbling and slipping about in the dark. What a 
sight that would be ! 

Now the simple truth is, if we do not believe in 
God we are blind. Lord, open our eyes to see Thee ! 

Once more, the really blind are those who have 

lost their powers of vision all because they did not 

163 



164 Gardens of Green 

use their eyes. Moles have eyes, they were not born 
blind, they grew blind by not using the powers God 
gave them. 

Down in the mammoth caves in Kentucky the fish 
are blind. Nature gave them eyes but they pre- 
ferred to live in the dark. Now they have eyes only 
they don't see. Nature took away the gift because 
it was not used. May the Lord help us to use our 
eyes. 

Furthermore, the faultfinders are also blind. 
Those who see the garbage cans on the sidewalks and 
never see the sun above. The fellows who see the 
good and turn their backs on it. 

"Alas for him who sees a thing grand 
And does not fit himself to it ! 
But the meanest act, on sea or land, 
Is to find a fault, and then do it !" 

Then those who walk by sight and not by faith 
are blind. Seeing is not believing but believing is 
seeing. Faith is vision with your eyes shut. The 
power to see with our mind's eye what we cannot 
see with our naked eye. 

Once in the long ago time an old prophet of Israel 
had a good servant and it happened that the horse- 
men and chariots of the enemy besieged them. The 
servant rose early one morning and saw them. In 
his heart grew up a big fear. "Alas, my master, 
what shall we do?" he exclaimed in his terror. 



Who Are the Blind? 165 

"Fear not," answered his master and with this 
caution he prayed: "Lord, I pray Thee, open his 
eyes that he may see." 

The servant was blind to the help God had around 
him. And the Lord opened his eyes and he saw. 

"The mountain was full of horses and chariots of 
fire round about Elisha." 

The blind are those whose eyes are holden. "Lord, 
open Thou our eyes that we may behold wondrous 
things out of thy Law." 



XL VII 

The Piper Prince from the North 

JOSEPH CONRAD, the novelist, who writes tales 
*^ of the sea and ships, says the "north wind is a 
Small Prince among the powers of the sea." 

Well ! he may be a " Small Prince" but I am sure 
he is not a gentle one. He is a bluff, blustering old 
fellow, who ruffles our hair, and nips our cheeks as 
he scours past on his way to the south. 

Ezekiel, the prophet, said, "A stormy wind came 
out of the north." 

Some of us have never known any other kind of 
a wind to come from that direction, for His High- 
ness, the Small Prince, has his home in the Arctic 
lands, where the Aurora Borealis winks at the north 
star and the frost turns the ice valleys into seas of 
white silver. 

This Prince is a piper. 

"A Piper wild from the north he comes 

And a bitter blast he blows. 
On gleaming pipes, as he rushes out 
From his cave, 'neath drifting snows. 

"A tartan of sheathing ice he wears, 
A bonnet of silvery frost." 

166 



The Piper Prince from the North 167 

So you can hear him piping down, ready for a fight. 
This piper Prince from the north land has a large 
and growing family of boys and girls in our coun- 
try. They wear heavy boots which, of course, they 
never wipe on a door mat. Doors they bang behind 
them and into the house they swing with their hats 
on. Upstairs they dash two steps at a time, slam 
into a room, throw their books down with a noise 
that makes Aunt Sue jump out of her chair. As for 
their manners, they are rough. Their tempers blus- 
tery like the piper Prince, only they never mean to 
hurt anybody. Oh, no. But it's a storm, an uproar, 
something broken, then it's all over. 

Somebody is hurt. 

We would not like it to be published in the news- 
papers, so we will say it quietly, just under our 
breath. The daughters of the small Prince with the 
pipes, have nippy tongues, words that stab like 
knives, looks that burn and they sometimes say little 
things, that hurt the feelings and sometimes, not 
often, they have been known to howl and cry like the 
"piper shrilling." 

But the children of the piper Prince of the north 
have some good traits. Oh, yes! They are cheery- 
hearted family, open, clean, straight and outspoken, 
fine, bracing, healthy, out-door folks. The microbes 
of jealousy, cobwebs of laziness or the drugs of sleep 
never hang over them. Never! 



168 Gardens of Green 

Well, I feel sure the piper's children will outgrow 
many of their faults. They are really only surface 
defects. Worn on the outside like a winter over- 
coat. Habits that they will cast off. 

Let me tell you now in just a word how the piper's 
children can be changed. 

Jesus, the Lord of the East, by His spirit can 
temper the north wind children. 

Blow on their hearts the heat of His love and 
make them strong as the north wind, and gentle as 
a summer breeze. 



XL VIII 

Jesus Child 

TX7HEN Jesus was a boy he lived in a humble 
* home. His mother early in her life was left a 
widow with several children. Jesus had four 
brothers, and very likely two sisters. He was the 
eldest son in the family that grew up in the little 
town of Nazareth. 

"Little Jesus, wast Thou shy 
Once, and just so small as I?" 

Yes! 

He was. He watched his mother make the bread, 
patch the clothes, sweep the house, clean the lamps, 
and at sunset cook the supper. Then the carpenters 
stopped work at their benches, the weavers left their 
looms, night came down swiftly and the birds' song 
ceased in the trees. The evening stars burnt in the 
sky as the family ate their supper. 

"Didst Thou kneel at night to pray, 
And didst Thou join Thy hands, this way? 
And did they tire sometimes, being young, 
And make the prayer seem very long? 
And dost Thou like it best, that we 
Should join our hands to pray to Thee? 

169 



170 Gardens of Green 

I used to think, before I knew, 
The prayer not said unless we do. 
And did Thy Mother at the night 
Kiss Thee, and fold the clothes in right? 
And didst Thou feel quite good in bed, 
Kissed, and sweet, and Thy Prayers said?" 

Yes! He did. 

In the market place He heard the chaffer of the 
traders; buyers swearing "by their heads, " sellers 
swearing "by the earth/' all the profanity of the 
bazaars he knew. Every day rough Galilean fisher- 
men from the lake beyond the hills brought fresh or 
dried fish to his mother's door. 

When Jesus grew big enough to climb the hills 
around Nazareth he could see the plains of Esdrae- 
lon, and the great caravan roads from Egypt, the 
Mediterranean Sea, leading up to the rich cities of 
the north. Camels, soldiers and the traffic of the 
world rolled by. His town of Nazareth was small 
but the "kingdoms of the world and glory of them" 
passed on. Rich men, poor men, peddlers, toilers 
and travelers, all passed before His eyes. 

He knew the village dogs too, the birds by note 
and name, their nests and ways. Foxes creeping to 
their lairs, lizards basking in the sun were familiar 
sights to Him. 

Jesus loved the feasts, weddings, and parties, the 
homecomings of those who went into the world and 
were welcomed by their friends and neighbors. 



Jesus Child 171 

On the Sabbath day He went to the synagogue and 
heard the priests intone the prayers, and the Psalms 
that we read, also the prophets of our Bible. His 
Bible is our Bible. 

"Thou canst not have forgotten all 
That it feels like to be small; 
And Thou know'st I cannot pray 
To Thee in my father's way — 
When Thou wast so little, say, 
Couldst Thou talk Thy Father's way? — 
So, a little Child, come down 
And hear a child's tongue like Thy own; 
Take me by the hand and walk, 
And listen to my baby-talk. 
To Thy Father show my prayer 
(He will look, Thou art so fair), 
And say: 'O Father, I, Thy Son, 
Bring the prayers of a little one.' " 

"And He will smile that children's tongue 
Has not changed since Thou wast young." 

No, He remembers His boyhood in Nazareth. 
Even enthroned in Glory, amid the heavenly Hosts,, 
He is our Elder Brother. 

' 'Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day and for- 
ever." 



XLIX 
Ye Olden Carols 

(Christmas Day) 

TXT HEN the church of God was in its infancy, 
" the custom of singing at Christmas time be- 
gan. A new kind of hymn was made called a "carol." 
The Latin word for "carol" is "carolese" which 
means to "sing songs of joy." The first practice 
of singing these beautiful songs of Christ's birth 
would naturally begin among the Latins in Rome. 

When the Gospel went north into France an ab- 
bess, with the strange name of Herade de Landsburg, 
wrote the first carol. It salutes the "Holy Creche" 
or manger. 

Over in Old England, the church of England has 
a collection of Christmas songs of rare value. The 
earliest one was written in quaint English. 

"When Chryst was born of Mary, free 
In Bethlehem that fayre citee, 
Angels sang with mirth and glee, 
'In Excelsis Gloria !' 

172 



Ye Olden Carols 173 

"Herdsmen beheld there angels bright 
To them appearing with great light, 
And sayd, 'God's Son is born this night, 
'In Excelsis Gloria!' 

"This King is coming to save mankind, 
Declared in Scripture so we fynde; 
Therefore this song have we in mind, 
'In Excelsis Gloria !' " 

Of course you have heard of bringing in the Yule 
log. In some parts of America the custom is carried 
out yet. But in the days of Knights, fair dames and 
candle lights, after the log was cut down, and ready 
a fair haired child was seated on it. Long ropes 
were tied to the log and lusty men pulled and sang 
as they pulled : 

"Come, bring with a noise, 
My merrie, merrie boyes, 
The Christmas log for the fireing. 
While my good dame she 
Bids ye all be free, 
And dance to your heart's desiring." 

But I am sure you have not heard of the "Boar's 
Carol. ,, Here is the story. 

A pale student of Queen's College in London was 
going to church on Christmas morning and a big 
boar rushed at him with its mouth wide open. He 
had a volume of Aristotle — an ancient gentleman 
you will hear about in college — and to save his life 
he thrust the book into the boar's throat, and went 
on to church. On his return, he found the boar dead, 



174 Gardens of Green 

choked to death by the book. He cut the head from 
the body, carried it home and composed a famous 
carol. It was sung by the knights at Christmas ban- 
quets when the boar's head, placed on a pewter plat- 
ter, decorated with holly and rosemary, was carried 
in by the strongest man. A forester went ahead of 
the platter, then a huntsman; two boy pages came 
next carrying the mustard. 

In chorus the knights sang the "Boar's Carol." 

"The Boar's head in hand bringe I, 
With garlans gay and rosemary. 
I pray you all synge merily, 
Qui estis convivo 
Caput apri defero 
Reddens laudes Domino." 

Another part of the festival of Christmas was the 

singing of the Waits, on Christmas Eve. Men and 

boys started out after dark and sang in the street. 

They went from house to house, singing, and seek- 
ing gifts. 

"All you that in this house be heare 
Remember Christ that for us dyed. 
And spend away with modest cheere, 
In loving sort, this Christmas-tide." 

Another song of the Waits had a joyous strain: 

"A child this day is born, 
A child of high renown, 
Most worthy of a sceptre, 
A sceptre and a crown. 



Ye Olden Carols 175 

Noels, noels, noels, 
Sing all we may, 
Because the King of Kings 
Was born this blessed day." 

In America we have some carols of our own. One 
of the best was written by the beloved Phillips 
Brooks. 

"O little town of Bethlehem, 

How still we see thee lie ! 
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep 

The silent stars go by. 
Yet in thy dark streets shineth 

The everlasting light; 
The hopes and fears of all the years 

Are met in Thee to-night." 

Many of the old customs are only memories now. 
We smile at the quaint ways and language of other 
lands beyond the seas, and we are glad of the rich 
legacy of songs and thoughts they passed on to us. 
With the same heartiness we sing our carols and 
minister in our ways of love all because one night 
there was a mother and her babe lying in a manger. 
1 'There was no room in the inn." 



L 

What Time Is It? 

TUTOW goes the enemy ?" I heard a workman ask 
his mate. 

"It's half-past three," was the answer. 

To call time our enemy is a very strange way to 
talk, is it not? 

Have you never heard people talk about "killing 
time?" Yes! I am sure you have. 

Time, the hours and the days God gives us are 
wonderful gifts! Why should we destroy or kill 
them? 

Time is a precious boon. Men have offered all 
their riches for an hour of it. But the golden mo- 
ments that make the hours are in God's hands. From 
the earliest days minutes of time have been measured. 
I believe the first clocks were basins in water. One 
on top of the other. A tiny hole bored in the upper 
one allowed the water to drop into the lower basin, 
and the emptying vessel recorded the passing of the 
hours. 

Our ancestors in Northern Europe used as clocks 

176 



What Time Is It? 177 

a long wax, or tallow candle twelve inches long, 
made to burn four hours, marking the hours. 

Koreans, to this day, measure time by knots on 
a rope. The hours a lighted rope smolders between 
the knots shows the time of day. 

Couriers in North West India when traveling and 
wanting to rest tie a special kind of cord to their 
big toe, light the end and lie down to sleep. In a 
few hours the rope burns away until it reaches the 
skin. 

Well ! You know how long a man would sleep if 
you put a burning match to his toe. The courier 
jumps up, quenches the fire and goes on his journey. 

Where and when the first public clock was erected 
in America I have never heard but 1288 was the 
year when the first "Big Ben," for that is the name 
of the clock on Westminster Hall, London, was 
erected. 

Our Pilgrim Fathers had watches, I suppose, at 
least their sons and daughters have them. May I 
ask you, "What time is it?" 

Let me answer : It's time to get up in the morn- 
ing. 

Listen to the reveille sounding in the barrack 

square : 

"I can't get 'em up, 
I can't get 'em up, 
I can't get 'em up 
In the mor-en-n-ing." 



178 Gardens of Green 

Don't waste time. Get up in the morning. 

"What time is it?" 

It's time to go to school. In all civilized countries 
attendance at school is compulsory. The government 
cannot afford to have its citizens ignorant. Mexico 
is a restless country because of her few people go- 
ing to school. India is dark. China is behind the 
rest of the world. Africa is sodden and unhealthy. 
Burmah is dangerous. Russia is in distress because 
the boys and girls have no schools. 

It's time the world's children went to school. 

"What time is it?" 

It's time to work. Jesus said, "I must work the 
works of Him that sent me." The world needs our 
work. When you leave school and go to work, 
"whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy 
might." Build homes, bridges, ships, till the ground, 
sow the seed, plant the corn. 

Every boy and girl has a work to do in the world. 
No one can do another person's work. Let us work 
for the time is coming when no man can labor. 

"What time is it?" 

It's the best time in all the roll of the years. 
Youth is ours. Some people don't know the golden 
season. Why ? 

It's the time to begin following Jesus. Oh, the 
folly of letting the glad days of childhood slip away, 
waiting, waiting, waiting. The spring years of life 



What Time Is It? 179 

are full of freshness, all our gifts are in our hands. 
The bargains of God are spread before us. Great 
things for nothing. Precious offerings of God, be- 
cause no money can buy time, tide, opportunity and 
talent. 

"What time is it ?" 

"Behold, now is the acceptable time, now is the 
day of salvation." 



THE END 



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